Line #20 Film/MonaLisaSmile


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0894_5.JPG]]
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3	A 2003 period drama film directed by Creator/MikeNewell and starring Creator/JuliaRoberts, Creator/MaggieGyllenhaal, Creator/KirstenDunst and Creator/JuliaStiles.
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5	In [[The50s 1953]], Katherine Watson (Roberts), a 30-something grad student from UCLA, accepts a teaching position at a liberal arts college for women in Massachusetts. Katherine's teaching style is unorthodox, as is her ardent feminism, and while she is welcomed by some of her students and colleagues, she also ruffles a lot of feathers -- particularly those of the college president and the head of the alumnae association.
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7	The film reads a lot like a gender-flipped ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety''.
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9	----
10	!!This film provides examples of:
11	* The50s: The story takes place in the early years of the decade, which suffer an heavy influence from post UsefulNotes/WorldWarII policies.
12	* AbusiveParents: Betty's mother. She forces her daughter into this marriage, even forcing her to do as she wants for the wedding, refuses to let her come home so that Betty will be unable to leave Spencer even when he abuses her and tries to pressure her to stay in the marriage so she won't damage family reputation. Betty eventually stands up to her by divorcing Spencer anyways and moving to New York.
13	* AlphaBitch: Betty is this [[spoiler: until her CharacterDevelopment]].
14	* ArrangedMarriage: It is implied that the marriage of Betty and Spencer is this. It's clear Spencer does not love her as he never sleeps with Betty and spends his time in New York having an affair. Betty divorces him within a few months of the marriage and completely changes her tone about her traditional values.
15	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: When the film came out, Wellesley College alumnae were not happy about how their school was portrayed, insisting that while it was indeed typical at the time to get married after you graduated, the overall environment at the school was not as snobbish and politically conservative as in the film and they did not wear girdles to class or attend lessons on "poise and elocution".
16	* AssimilationAcademy: While the school provides young women with an education, it is portrayed as ultimately grooming them for the role of proper upper-class housewives.
17	* AwfulWeddedLife: [[spoiler: Betty and Spencer, as it turns out he's a cheater and emotionally distant.]] Betty's parents are implied to have a cold marriage, while Giselle's eventually divorced.
18	* BrainyBrunette: Both Katherine and Giselle, respectively.
19	* BreakTheHaughty: Betty and her journey as a Stepford Wife after a lavish wedding ceremony and a FairytaleWeddingDress [[spoiler: only for her hubby to neglect her and eventually cheat on her]]. She later divorces him and moves on with her life.
20	* {{Bridezilla}}: Played with. It's actually Betty's mother, not Betty herself, who obsesses over every detail of her wedding and happily browbeats everyone into pulling it off her way.
21	* BrokenAesop: Joan [[spoiler:decides to get married rather than go to Yale]] and is happy to have done so. She tells Katherine that being a housewife doesn't mean that she doesn't have any depth or value. That's a fair point, although it might have worked better coming from a character other than Joan, a straight A student and ExtracurricularEnthusiast who actually wanted to "have it both" ''and'' had been implied to repress the desire to continue her education in order to fit the conventional role of a stay-at-home wife. In this context her final decision seems more like conforming than anything else and her husband's jokes about how [[spoiler:it was impossible for Joan to go to Yale because then the dinner wouldn't be at 5]] don't make it any more comfortable.
22	* BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats: The "Adam's Ribs" secret society, where the girls wear brightly colored beanies with "AR" in big white letters on the front. Note that this group averts many tropes common to SecretSocieties: Meetings take place at 5 p.m. and its members speak openly about its existence in the hallway and on the quad.
23	* BuryYourGays: Amanda's long-term girlfriend dies [[HideYourLesbians offscreen]] before the film's plot starts.
24	* TheCameo: Music/ToriAmos as the wedding singer.
25	* CareerVersusMan: Betty, more than any other character, believes this is a zero-sum proposition. She mocks Katherine for never having been married and fears Joan will destroy her prospects of marriage by going to law school.
26	* CharacterDevelopment: Betty Warren starts out as a sort-of AcademicAlphaBitch in her finishing school who firmly believes in the expectations for women of the 50’s, and sniffs at the more liberal and feminist views of others. She even writes an article critiquing Katherine for trying to encourage her class to be independent and stating that women are destined to StayInTheKitchen and [[BabyFactory become mothers]]. However, after a lifetime of following the rules, Betty finds her husband is cheating on her, and many of her friends who have gone against her traditional values are much happier. Betty regrets how she treated Katherine and changes her own views, choosing to divorce her husband and have a career and life of her own, the very lifestyle that she openly opposed through most of the film.
27	* ChekhovsGun: Betty's mother would grab and shove her when she wanted Betty to conform to her standards. When she tries this at graduation, Betty breaks free just before telling her she was divorcing Spencer, symbolizing her freedom from her mother and her mother's expectations.
28	* ComplimentBackfire: [[OldMaid Nancy]] compliments Connie's skills in domestic economy saying that [[YouRemindMeOfX she reminds her of herself at her age]]. Given that Connie struggles with finding a significant other, she's not flattered at all.
29	* ConsummateLiar: Bill turns out to be one.
30	* CooldownHug: Giselle gives one to Betty [[spoiler: when she finds out that her husband cheats on her]].
31	* CoverDrop: The official movie poster pictured here is almost identical to a shot of the girls examining a Jackson Pollock painting. The biggest difference is that Betty (Kirsten Dunst) was not actually present in that scene.
32	* DeadpanSnarker: Giselle and Amanda.
33	* DefrostingIceQueen: Both Betty and Katherine.
34	* ElegantClassicalMusician: Connie is a gifted cello player, which gives out her truer passionate nature.
35	* EthicalSlut: While Giselle has affairs with older, often married men, she's the one who discovers Spencer is cheating on Betty and even helps make it right. Despite her liberal views, she is not a bad person.
36	* ExiledToTheCouch: Katherine's boyfriend, Paul, is most displeased at being forced to sleep on the couch due to Nancy's house rules.
37	* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: In addition to being a straight-A student, Joan is "president of the Poetry Society, captain of the debate team, co-captain of the tennis club, [and] founder of the Horticulture League."
38	* FreudianExcuse: Betty accuses Giselle of having [[UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex an Electra Complex]]. Rather ironically, Giselle herself uses it as an excuse for her developing a taste for older men. Somewhat {{lampshaded}} by Giselle herself since she states she cannot blame her.
39	* AFriendInNeed: Giselle and Betty for most of the movie are at each other's throats until [[spoiler: Giselle finds out that Spencer cheats on Betty]]. Not only doesn't she mock her, but she's the one who comforts her.
40	* GenderFlip: Of ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety'', according to some reviewers.
41	* GreenEyedMonster: It's implied that Betty's reason to belittling and sabotaging Connie's relationship with Charlie is that she's jealous [[spoiler: since Spencer actually doesn't love her.]]
42	* HandsomeLech: You'll never see Bill Dunbar without a chick on his side.
43	* HappilyMarried: Joan and Tommy. Averted with Betty and Spencer; she is certainly happily married at first, but this breaks down in short order.
44	* HeelFaceTurn: Betty spends the entire beginning of the film insisting women observe their place as wives and mothers, even publicly attacking Amanda Armstrong and Katherine Watson for not having the same standards. After her marriage fails, she changes her standards by divorcing her husband and renting an apartment with Giselle. She even was considering law school, something she was against when Joan was considering it.
45	* {{Housewife}}: Betty writes an article for the Wellesley paper exhorting her fellow students to accept "the roles they were born to fill," claiming they have an "obligation" to be homemakers.
46	* HumansAreFlawed: Bill tries to play this card after [[spoiler: Katherine finds out that he lied about being a war hero]]. He even goes as far as comparing his situation to Joan's. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]
47	* InformedJudaism: Giselle's last name is Levy, but her Jewishness is not relevant to the plot outside being brought up by racist Mrs Warren who disapproves Betty's friendship with her.
48	* TheIngenue: Connie, and that's why Betty usually picks on her.
49	* ItsAllAboutMe: Betty's mother concerning Betty's marriage to Spencer. She insisted that Betty be the perfect wife and refuses to take her back when her marriage goes south. After Spencer cheats on Betty, she tells Betty to try and make her marriage work for a year and not to tell anyone so that it doesn't damage her mother's reputation. Betty eventually tells her off and divorces Spencer anyways.
50	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Gisele may be a bit snarky, and she has a tendency to go after married men, but she still cares very deeply for her friends, and supports Katherine's ideas through and through. [[spoiler: Plus, in the end she even helps Betty get back on her feet, when the latter's husband cheats on her, and she has no place else to go.]]
51	* LessonsInSophistication: Nancy's evening course in how to be a proper housewife is a non-royal, non-aristocratic version.
52	* LoveMartyr: Giselle knows full well what kind of a man Bill is, but can't get over him and would be willing to take him back if he was interested.
53	* MistakenForCheating: Betty believes her cousin Charlie is cheating on his fiancée, Deb, with Connie. As it turns out, [[spoiler:he and Deb broke up before he met Connie and their relationship was completely innocent the whole time.]]
54	* TheMourningAfter: Nancy gets drunk at Betty's wedding and reveals how much she mourns her boyfriend who died in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
55	** Actually {{subverted\|Trope}}, as she gets drunker and admits he dumped her.
56	* MRSDegree: Katherine complains that she thought she was educating the leaders of tomorrow, not their wives, as some her students are highly capable but have no personal ambition.
57	%%* MyBelovedSmother: Mrs. Warren
58	* MyOwnPrivateIDo: [[spoiler:Joan and Tommy]] elope quietly, since the prospect of a big wedding terrifies [[spoiler:him.]]
59	* PrinciplesZealot: Katherine's feminism vs. Betty, Mrs. Warren, and Dr. Carr's traditionalism.
60	* RacistGrandma: Or mother in this case. Betty's mother referred to Giselle as a racial slur for being Jewish.
61	* ReallyGetsAround: Giselle has a quite lively love life, with a preference to older men as her FreudianExcuse.
62	* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Katherine's attitude borders on this till she gets a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
63	* RedScare: Downplayed—the only direct reference to Communism is Nancy's jocular (or thoughtless) assumption that Creator/LucilleBall might be a Communist—but in this very restrictive and conservative environment, it's not uncommon to throw around [=McCarthyist=]-style accusations of subversion. Amanda Armstrong is basically fired for the deemed-"subversive" act of ''providing contraceptive pills'', and in a climate like this, it's only a matter of time before someone as liberal and bohemian as Katherine, with her unorthodox teaching methods and focus on abstract and modern art, gets accused of subversion too. (Ironically American modern art was itself weaponised by the CIA itself as ''anti-Communist propaganda'' to counter Soviet social-realist art.)
64	* RichBitch: Mrs. Warren and her daughter Betty. Betty gets better, though.
65	* RitualsAndCeremonies:
66	** The matriculation ceremony at the beginning of Wellesley's fall term:
67	--->'''Joan''': ''(raps on the door with a gavel)''
68	--->'''Dr. Carr''': Who knocks at the door of learning?
69	--->'''Joan''': I am every woman!
70	--->'''Dr. Carr''': What do you seek?
71	--->'''Joan''': To awaken my spirit through hard work and to dedicate my life to knowledge.
72	--->'''Dr. Carr''': Then you are welcome. All women who seek to follow you may enter here. I now declare the academic year begun.
73	** The hoop rolling. This is TruthInTelevision as Wellesley students still do this, although it is no longer said that the winner will be the first to marry. In fact, according to one Wellesley alum, it is now said that the winner will be the first in the class to become a CEO!
74	* SchoolNurse: Amanda Armstrong, who is quite forward-thinking in discreetly supplying contraceptives to the students.
75	* SeeminglyWholesome50sGirl: The most prominent example is Giselle, a straight-A student by day, and a FemmeFatale by night.
76	* SexlessMarriage: Betty and Spencer. Betty made the excuse before their marriage that it was because Spencer was too much of a gentleman but it turns out that he hates Betty and cheated on her the whole time. She later breaks down to Giselle over this, who comforts her.
77	* SmokingIsGlamorous: The Camel ad that Connie reads implies that a woman must achieve certain milestones in order to be worthy of their product.
78	-->When your courses are set
79	-->And a dreamboat you've met
80	-->Have a real cigarette
81	-->Have a Camel!
82	* StayInTheKitchen: The generic expectation is that the college will prepare the girls for [[MRSDegree their future role as housewives]] and when it's not blatantly stated, it's strongly suggested.
83	* StepfordSmiler: "Is Mona Lisa happy? Who cares? The important thing is that she smiles..."
84	* TeacherStudentRomance: Giselle had an affair with Mr. Dunbar, and clearly she's still quite smitten. She has an affair with a married man who is said to be a psychoanalyst but it isn't stated whether or not he's a teacher. While Giselle is the only one openly mentioned to be part of Dunbar's affairs, it's heavily implied he has slept with other students as well.
85	* TokenMinority: Giselle is the only Jewish student we get to see, and it's implied that it's one of the causes of her being an outcast.
86	* TroubledAbuser: Betty, after [[spoiler:her husband starts cheating on her]] and even before. She tends to bully people who don't fit in the society as well as her, but is in turn treated similarly by her mother. It's also implied that even Mrs. Warren, a bitch as she is, had a miserable married life herself and that's the reason she's constantly pressuring her daughter into trying even harder to fit the ideal.
87	* TrueArt: A debate throughout the movie, with the traditionalists believing true art is perfectly straightforward and needs to [[TrueArtIsAncient earn the word]] "art" by "the right people," and Katherine believing the definition of true art should be expanded to include expressionism and other abstract schools.
88	* VictoriousLoser: Katherine at the end of the movie. [[spoiler: She lost her job, her romance with Bill went up in smoke, but she remained true to herself and her principles. As a bonus, her disappointment in Joan settling for life as a happy homemaker, is balanced by the knowledge that she helped Betty, who throughout most of the film had been her most inveterate and effective opponent and upholder of the social status quo, to muster the strength to build her own life in defiance of the rigid norms of the early 1950s.]]
89	* VillainousBreakdown: Betty lashes out at Giselle after Giselle returns from sleeping with her new lover. Betty screams how hard it must be to pine from a man who hates her, Giselle knows Betty is upset about Spencer and gives her a CooldownHug, comforting her over her failing marriage.
90	* WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant: Most of the characters in the movie except for Giselle and a briefly-seen black student (a non-speaking part). {{Justified\|Trope}} since the setting is an UsefulNotes/IvyLeague in The50s so a multiethnic university is almost unthinkable.
91	* WrongNameOutburst: Katherine calls Paul "Bill" revealing that she's not into him anymore.
92	* YouCantGoHomeAgain: When Betty's marriage goes wrong, her mother doesn't want to take her back so that she can trap Betty into her marriage. She eventually calls her mother out on that and tells her she is renting an apartment in Greenwich village with Giselle, someone her mother can't stand.

Context Film / MonaLisaSmile