Review of Mona Lisa Smile (2003) by Tracey C — 26 Aug 2010

Katherine Watson: Since your wedding, you've missed six classes, a paper and your midterm.

Betty Warren: I was on my honeymoon and then I had to set up house. What does she expect?

Katherine Watson: Attendance.

Connie Baker: timidly Most of the faculty turn their heads when the married students miss a class or two.

Katherine Watson: Well then why not get married as freshman? That way you could graduate without actually ever stepping foot on campus.

Betty Warren: Don't disregard out traditions just because you're subversive.

Katherine Watson: Don't disrespect this class just because you're married.

Betty Warren: Don't disrespect me just because you're not.

Katherine Watson: Come to class, do the work, or I'll fail you.

Betty Warren: If you fail me, there will be consequences.

Katherine Watson: Are you threatening me?

Betty Warren: I'm educating you.

Katherine Watson: That's *my* job.

Katherine Watson: It's brilliant, really. A perfect ruse. A finishing school disguised as a college. Well, they got me.

Bill Dunbar: What do you expect?

Katherine Watson: More! I thought I was headed to a place that would turn out tomorrow's leaders, not their wives!

Katherine Watson: Look beyond the paint. Let us try to open our minds to a new idea.

Katherine Watson: I don't think I can go a year without a hot plate.

Betty Warren: Look at this, mother. She's smiling. Is she happy?

Mrs. Warren: The important thing is not to tell anyone.

Betty Warren: She looks happy, so what does it matter?

Betty Warren: [in Betty's last editorial] Not all who wander are aimless. Especially not those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image.

Taxi Driver: Get the hell out of the way.

Betty Warren: I'll never forget you.

Betty Warren: Dear Betty, I came to Wellesley because I wanted to make a difference. But to change for others is to lie to yourself. My teacher,.

Katherine Watson, lived by her own definition and would not compromise that, not even for Wellesley. I dedicate this, my last editorial, to an extraordinary woman, who lived by example and compelled us all to see the world through new eyes. By the time you read this, she'll be sailing to Europe, where I know she'll find new walls to break down, and new ideas to replace them with.

Betty Warren: I've heard her called a quitter for leaving and aimless wanderer. But not all who wander are aimless, especially those who seek truth beyond tradition, beyond definition, beyond the image. I'll never forget you.

Betty Warren: Wellesley girls who are married have become quite adept at balancing their obligations. One hears such comments, as - I'm able to baste the chicken with one hand and outline the paper with the other. While our mothers were called to workforce for Lady Liberty. It is our duty- nay, obligation to reclaim our place in the home, bearing the children that will carry our traditions into the future. One must pause to consider why Miss.

Katherine Watson, instructor in the art history department has decided to declare war on the holy sacrament of marriage. Her subversive and political teachings encourage our Wellesley girls to reject the roles they were born to fill.

Betty Warren: [Betty's Third Editorial Voice Over] Wellesley girls who are married have become quite adept at balancing their obligations. One hears such comments as, "I'm able to baste the chicken with one hand and outline the paper with the other." While our mothers were called to the workforce for lady liberty it is our duty, nay, obligation to reclaim our place in the home bearing the children that will carry our traditions into the future. One must pause to consider why; Ms. Katherine Watson, instructor in the art history department, has decided to declare war on the holy sacrament of marriage. Her subversive and political teachings encourage our Wellesley girls to reject the roles they were born to fill.

Katherine Watson: Slide - Contemporary art...

Connie Baker: No, that's just an advertisement...

Katherine Watson: Quiet. Today you just listen. What will future scholars see when they study us, a portrait of women today? There you are ladies: the perfect likeness of a Wellesley graduate, Magna Cum Laude, doing exactly what she was trained to do. Slide - a Rhodes Scholar, I wonder if she recites Chaucer while she presses her husband's shirts. Slide - hehe, now you physics majors can calculate the mass and volume of every meatloaf you make. Slide - A girdle to set you free. What does that mean? What does that mean? What does it mean? I give up, you win. The smartest women in the country, I didn't realize that by demanding excellence I would be challenging... what did it say?

Katherine Watson: What did it say? Um... the roles you were born to fill. Is that right?

Katherine Watson: The roles you were born to fill? It's, uh, it's my mistake.

Katherine Watson: Class dismissed.

Charlie Stewart: My parents say my future is right on the horizon.

Connie Baker: Tell them the horizon is an imaginary line that recedes as you approach it.

Betty Warren: All her life, she had wanted to teach at Wellesley College. So, when a position opened in the Art History department, she pursued it single-mindedly until she was hired. It was whispered that Katherine Watson, a first-year teacher from Oakland State, made up in brains what she lacked in pedigree. Which was why this bohemian from California was on her way to the most conservative college in the nation.

Staunton's Secretary: I was in California once. How do you get any work done with all that sunshine..

Katherine Watson: We tan in class.

Giselle Levy: Whatever you do, don't put the boss's wife next to your husband.

Betty Warren: Why not?

Giselle Levy: She's screwing him.

Connie Baker: And, it was perfect, romantic, we stayed up all night, talking.

Joan Brandwyn: [to Giselle] You're late, what happened to Sunday brunch?

Giselle Levy: We stayed up all night, too. Not talking.

Connie Baker: The psychoanalyst again.

Giselle Levy: Divine exhaustion.

Katherine Watson: This is quite the event. I'm surprised I was invited.

Bill Dunbar: Well, look around you.

Bill Dunbar: Who wasn't?

Betty Warren: Does he pay you for sex? I mean, at the rate you're going, you could make a fortune.

Joan Brandwyn: Betty.

!

Betty Warren: Everyone thinks so. Do you know what they say? They say you're a whore. And pretty soon, once they've all sampled you, they'll toss you aside like a used rag.

Joan Brandwyn: Betty, stop! Now!

Betty Warren: The men you love don't even want you! Your father doesn't want you!

Giselle Levy: I'm gonna meet you downstairs.

Betty Warren: Professor Dunbar?

Connie Baker: Betty, that's enough!

Betty Warren: Everyone knows that you hide outside his house! It must be torturous running after a man who doesn't even care about you. Who's in love with someone else. Who hates you!

Giselle Levy: Betty...

Betty Warren: He *hates* you!

Betty Warren: Get off of me!

Betty Warren: He doesn't want me!

Giselle Levy: ] I know...

Bill Dunbar: [ Did you ever hear the phrase "Keeping up with the Jones'".

Bill Dunbar: Mr and Mrs Jones the actual historic family they named the phrase after.

Katherine Watson: Slide. Contemporary art.

Connie Baker: Now that's just an advertisement.

Katherine Watson: Quiet! Today you just listen. What will the future scholars see when they study us? A portrait of woman today? There you are ladies. The perfect likeness of a Welesley graduate, Magna Cum Laude doing exactly what she was trained to do. Slide. A Rhodes scholar. I wonder is she recited Chaucer while she presses her husband's shirts. Slide. Heh, now you physics major's can calculate the mass and volume of every meat loaf you ever make. Slide. A girdle to set you free! What does that mean?... What does that mean?... What does it mean? I give up. You win. The smartest women in the country... I didn't realize that by demanding excellence I would be challenging... what did it say?

Katherine Watson: what did it say? um... the roles you were born to fill.

Katherine Watson: is that right? the roles you were born to fill?... It's uh it's my mistake.

Katherine Watson: Class dismissed.

Katherine Watson: It says here that you're pre-law. What law school are you going to go to?

Joan Brandwyn: I hadn't really thought about that. After I graduate, I plan on getting married.

Katherine Watson: And then?

Joan Brandwyn: [confused] And then... I'll be married.

Katherine Watson: These girls! Are you proud, President Carr?

President Jocelyn Carr: Yes, actually, I am.

Katherine Watson: Well, you should be, I guess. Half of them are already married, and the other half, oh just give it a month or so! I mean, it's really only a matter of time! That's what they're doing here, right, they're just biding their time until somebody proposes!

President Jocelyn Carr: A hundred years ago, it was inconceivable for a woman to *be* a college graduate! I think, perhaps, you should look back to see how far we've come!

Katherine Watson: Well, I'm sorry, from where I sit it's just a different kind of corset.

President Jocelyn Carr: Well, we can all use a little support.

Katherine Watson: Oh, like the kind you gave Amanda Armstrong?

President Jocelyn Carr: She broke the law!

Katherine Watson: According to Betty Warren!

Betty Warren: Katherine Watson didn't come to Wellesley to fit in. She came because she wanted to make a difference.

Katherine Watson: Katherine Watson, nice to meet you.

Giselle Levy: Dr. Watson, I presume.

Katherine Watson: Not yet.

Katherine Watson: From the beginning, man has always had the impulse to create are. Can anyone tell me what this.

Joan Brandwyn: "Wounded Bison", Altameera, Spain, about 1500 BC.

Katherine Watson: Very good, Joan. Despite the age of these paintings, they are technically very sophisticated...

Joan Brandwyn: Because of the shading, and the thickness of the lines as it moves over the hump of the bison. Is that right?

Katherine Watson: Yes, that's exactly right. Next slide. This one, you are probably less familiar with. It was discovered by archaeologists in...

Betty Warren: 1879, Lesco, France, dates back to 10 000 BC, singled out because of the flowing lines depicting the movement of the animal.

Katherine Watson: Impressive. Name?

Betty Warren: "Herd of Horses.".

Katherine Watson: I meant yours.

Giselle Levy: We call her Flicka.

Dr. Edward Staunton: I'm curious about the subject of your dissertation. You suggest 'Picasso will do for the twentieth century what Michael Angelo did for the renaissance"?

Katherine Watson: In terms of influencing movements.

Dr. Edward Staunton: So, these canvases they're turning out these days with paint dripped and splotched on them, they're as worthy of our attention as Michael Angelo's Sistine Chapel?

Katherine Watson: I'm not comparing them.

Katherine Watson: "Carcass", by Soutine, 1925. Is it any good? C'mon, ladies, there's no wrong answer. There's also no textbook telling you what to think. It's not that easy, is it.

Betty Warren: Alright, no. It's not good. In fact, I wouldn't even call it art. It's grotesque.

Connie Baker: Is there a rule against art being grotesque?.

Giselle Levy: I think there's something aggressive about it. And erotic.

Betty Warren: To you, everything is erotic.

Giselle Levy: Everything *is* erotic.

Susan Delacorte: Aren't there standards?

Betty Warren: Of course there are! Otherwise, a tacky velvet painting could be equated to a Rembrandt!

Connie Baker: Hey, my Uncle Ferdie has two tacky velvet paintings. He loves those clowns.

Betty Warren: There *are* standards! Technique, composition, color, even subject. So, if you're suggesting that rotted side of meat is art, much less *good* art, then what are we going to learn?.

Katherine Watson: Just that. You have outlined our new syllabus, Betty, thank you. What is art? What makes it good or bad, and who decides?

Katherine Watson: 25 years ago, someone thought this was brilliant.

Betty Warren: Who.

Katherine Watson: My mother. I painted it for her birthday. Next slide. This is my mom. Is it art?.

Susan Delacorte: It's a snapshot.

Katherine Watson: If I told you Ansel Adams had taken it, would that make a difference?.

Betty Warren: Art isn't art until someone says it is.

Katherine Watson: It's art!

Betty Warren: The right people.

Betty Warren: And who are they.

Giselle Levy: Betty Warren! We're so lucky we have one of them right here.

Connie Baker: [reading from an advertisement] "When your courses are set and a dreamboat you've met, have a real cigarette! Have a Camel!" I've got my courses, I've got my Camel cigarette. Where the hell is my dreamboat..

Connie Baker: [holding up a diaphragm] This isn't what I think it is, is it.

Joan Brandwyn: Where'd you get it.

Giselle Levy: From the school nurse.

Betty Warren: It's against the law!

Giselle Levy: No, honey, it's a girl's best.

Friend.

Betty Warren: A certain kind of girl.

Giselle Levy: Meet the last virgin bride.

Betty Warren: Spencer is a gentleman.

Giselle Levy: And even gentlemen have dicks.

Connie Baker: Maybe I'll get one!

Giselle Levy: What, a dick.

Betty Warren: Don't be stupid, Connie!

Connie Baker: Someone, somewhere, someday might be interested. Just in case, I'll be prepared.

Joan Brandwyn: Was that necessary.

Betty Warren: I was taught it's best to speak honestly.

Giselle Levy: You're a bitch.

Joan Brandwyn: You gave me a C.

Katherine Watson: I'm kind.

Joan Brandwyn: The assignmen.

T was to write about Bruegel. That's what I did.

Katherine Watson: No, what you did was copy Strauss.

Joan Brandwyn: I was referencing an expert.

Katherine Watson: If I wanted to know what he thought, I'd buy his book.

Giselle Levy: That's Jackson Pollock.

Susan Delacorte: In a word.

Connie Baker: I was just getting used to the idea of dead, maggoty meat being art. Now this..

Susan Delacorte: Please don't tell me we have to write a paper about it.

Katherine Watson: Do me a favor. Do yourselves a favor. Stop talking, and look. You're not required to write a paper. You're not even required to like it. You *are* required to consider it.

Joan Brandwyn: I've got a secret to tell you. I got accepted early to Yale Law School.

Betty Warren: To *what*? Why? You don't want to be a lawyer!

Joan Brandwyn: Maybe I do.

Betty Warren: You won't switch brands of cold cream without asking me, but you applied to law school...

Joan Brandwyn: On a lark. We never thought I'd get in.

Betty Warren: Who's 'we'?

Joan Brandwyn: Miss Watson. She practically filled out my application for me.

Betty Warren: You've got to be kidding me. What right does she have? You're getting married!

Joan Brandwyn: First of all, there's no ring on this finger. Second, I can do both. I can!

Betty Warren: You are this close to getting you ever wanted. And this close to losing it.

Katherine Watson: He painted what he felt, not what he saw. People didn't understand, to them it seemed childlike and crude. It took years for them to recognize his ac.