Women who smile

In Columbia Pictures’ Romantic-Comedy "Mona Lisa Smile," Julia Roberts leads an all-star cast of young actresses including Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal, in a story of women struggling to define themselves in a world that has already defined them.

Katherine Watson (Roberts) travels from California to the New England campus of Wellesley College in the fall of 1953 to teach art history. In the post-war era, Katherine expects that her students, the best and the brightest in the country, will take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

Soon after her arrival, however, Katherine discovers that the environment at the prestigious institution is steeped in conformity. According to their poise and elocution teacher Nancy Abbey (Marcia Gay Harden), an engagement ring on a young woman’s finger is considered a bigger prize than a well-rounded education.

When Katherine encourages her students to think independently, she runs afoul of the more conservative faculty and alumni, including one of her students, the upper crust Betty (Dunst). The recently married Betty becomes a formidable adversary when Katherine persuades her best friend, Joan (Stiles), to apply to Yale Law School–even as Joan is awaiting a proposal of marriage from her boyfriend. For the smart and provocative Giselle (Gyllenhaal), Katherine becomes a much-needed role model and mentor.

In a world that told them how to live, Katherine teaches them how to think for themselves. Through her students’ trials to find their own way, Katherine learns to chart a different course for herself as well.

Several years ago, screenwriting partners Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal read an article about Hillary Rodham Clinton’s years at Wellesley College in the 1960s. "By the 60s the Wellesley curriculum had already been modernized and the students took their choices for granted," says Rosenthal. "But we wondered what it would be like if we went back a generation, before the vocabulary of feminism was handed to women on a silver platter."

In that prior generation, the writers learned that the curriculum was very different. "They were doing French literature and physics in the morning and how to serve tea to your husband’s boss in the afternoon," says Konner.

The writers did further research on women’s colleges in the years following World War II. Even the progressive educational institutions were not exempt from the conservative swing that overtook the nation after the upheaval of the war, they discovered. Women, who had contributed to the war effort, taking physically demanding jobs, while their husbands, fathers and brothers were off defending the country, were expected to give up their jobs, return home and raise families.

The dramatic tension between what was expected of women in that era and the dreams and yearnings that were simmering underneath was too strong a premise for Konner and Rosenthal to resist. Wellesley College was an ideal setting, especially during the Eisenhower era when the first sparks of what would later be known as the feminist revolution were being kindled. The focus of their story would be Katherine Watson, a young woman who comes to Wellesley with idealistic notions of what it will be like to teach some of the smartest women in America.

"We’ve always been fascinated by the notion of someone who is ‘enlightened prematurely’– someone who’s ahead of her time. Katherine was our way of imagining that heroine," says Rosenthal.

The title "Mona Lisa Smile" derived from the fact that Katherine teaches art history and Leonardo’s masterpiece is one of the most fascinating–and enigmatic–works of art ever created. As one of the characters in the film remarks about the Gioconda’s legendary grin, "But is she really happy?"

"Thematically that’s really the heart of the movie. It’s about what we see on the surface–of society, of these women’s lives–and what’s really going on underneath," says Rosenthal. "Each of the female characters presents a façade, but as soon as we think we have them pegged, they surprise us, even Katherine."

In addition, Rosenthal continues, "We think the Mona Lisa works as an icon for women. Most people giggle when they see it. They know it’s very expensive and valuable, more something to own than to understand. And that’s exactly what Katherine is trying to warn her students against–being turned into a ‘pretty, valuable object’ on some corporate executive’s arm, an expensive piece of property."

Mona Lisa Smile opens in theaters on Feb. 4.