Since returning from Germany, I decided to cancel my Netflix account because I couldn’t watch anything in German anymore. (This was my main justification for Netflix–I’m not wasting time! I’m learning German simultaneously! Lol) Before my subscription ended, I binge watched some films that looked interesting and, for lack of better things to write about, have decided to write short reviews of the films that stood out to me. So if you do have a Netflix account, consider these my recommendations.
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Set in the 1950s, Katherine Watson (played by Julia Roberts) moves from California to teach art at Wellesley College and quickly realizes her liberal West Coast beliefs have no place at Wellesley. She’s simultaneously surprised by how intelligent her class is and disappointed to find out that most of her students have absolutely no intention of pursuing a career, despite attending one of the most prestigious colleges for women at the time. Essentially, Wellesley College is portrayed as a women’s finishing school masquerading as an elite college; in addition to rigorous study of classical subjects, the women are subjected to lessons on how to host a dinner and how to greet their husband when he comes home from work. Some reviews I read on IMDB wrote that the movie really exaggerates how conservative Wellesley was at this time–Wellesley allegedly did not have “finishing” classes. Regardless of how historically accurate the film was about Wellesley, I enjoyed peeking into a strange and fascinating time period where it wasn’t normal for women to attend college, much less pursue a career or not marry by age twenty-one.
Watson begins teaching and tries not to inject her opinion on women and careers but clearly finds it hard to hide her disappointment–and even disdain–for her students who are tossing their potential aside because they feel they cannot be both married and career-oriented. She immediately clashes with Betty Warren, a student played by Kirsten Dunst, who embodies everything Watson hates. Warren comes from an elite family who expects her to have the kind of marriage that looks perfect on paper and is written about in newspapers as the major social event of the year. For Betty and her mother, marriage is the only way a woman ensures a financially stable future. In exchange, she will play the part of a dutiful and demure housewife. Warren believes wholeheartedly in this 1950s dream, excitedly “setting up house” and gushing about her new washer and dryer, and writes scathing articles in the college newspaper about anyone who holds less-than-traditional values. When she finds out Watson has encouraged her best friend to apply to law school, rather than marry her college sweetheart right away, Warren uses her family’s social power to force the college to reevaluate Watson’s place at Wellesley. While Dunst does well with her character, at times, I found it difficult to believe that a young college woman would find liberal women and ideas so threatening. It’s certainly not out of the question, but the film did a poor job developing why Dunst’s character feels so strongly about women needing to accept their roles as future wives. But perhaps this just shows how times have changed and how foreign Warren’s beliefs are to me–it really felt cringeworthy and unbelievable to me that she would skip class just so she could “play wife” and have dinner on the table by five. Still, Warren and Watson’s characters act as nice foils to each other. Each clings tightly to her idea of what path women should take — marriage or career — only for them to eventually come to mutual understanding and accept that for some women, being a housewife is the right decision, and for other women, it is a career. And for some women, it is both.
Overall, I found the movie enjoyable to watch, with the exception of a few subplots that I found unnecessary — Watson’s rendezvous with the sleazy and ethically dubious Italian professor was a bit off-putting and felt out of character for her. However, the ending of the film is both heart-warming and inspiring without resorting to the typical “woman finds man” as an answer to sorrows and purpose and without bashing the women who do find love. For this reason, I think women, especially women in their 20s, would enjoy this film as it is both a testament to women being able to enjoy their lives and find fulfillment without a romantic partner and a good reminder that it wasn’t so long ago that women who attended college and pursued a career were fairly radical. I find this historical context both grounding for my own experience as a woman who attended college and is pursuing a career, as well as inspiring–I certainly feel grateful to the women before me who paved the way. All in all, while the film is no action-packed blockbuster, it is thought-provoking and bound to spark some interesting conversations.
Sarah the Adventurer 