Brick, Ivy, and Brushstrokes: Why Mona Lisa Smile is My Autumn Movie
What's Behind the Smile? Revisiting Mona Lisa Smile Film stills from Mona Lisa Smile , courtesy of allscreencaps.com I love Mona Lisa Smile . I'll say it right at the start. Every autumn, when the light turns golden and the evenings get long, it's the first movie I reach for. Brick archways, wool skirts, leaves on the quad, and a professor with a satchel full of ideas: it feels like fall from the very first frame. It's also, to me, one of the most wonderful movies ever made about how to look at art . The Setup Film stills from Mona Lisa Smile , courtesy of allscreencaps.com It's 1953, and Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) has just arrived at Wellesley College to teach art history. She's a free-thinking Californian stepping into one of the most polished, tradition-bound women's colleges in America. The unofficial curriculum there is how to be a good wife: how to host, how to pour tea, how to smile on cue. Bright young women are groomed for graduation and, i...
