Mona Lisa Smile

When Nancy Abbey is watching _"I Love Lucy" (1951)_ (qv), the title insignia is the famous heart-on-velvet, which was used only when the show was in syndication.

The original opening sequence featured advertisements for a cigarette company.

Law schools started awarding "Juris Doctor" degrees in the 1960s.

Before that, they awarded "Legum Baccalaureus" (LL.

), or Bachelor of Laws.

The place setting Nancy Abbey uses for her etiquette class was not manufactured prior to or during the 1950s.

Although the china ("Prince Regent" by Royal Worcester) is inspired by an 1811 pattern privately commissioned by George IV as Prince Regent, it was not produced for public sale until the 1990s.

At about 23 minutes into the movie, during a game, you can see a modern supermarket shopping cart.

Katherine Watson tells her class that 'Vincent van Gogh' (qv) never sold a painting during his lifetime.

He actually sold one painting, to his brother Theo, for 5 francs.

One young woman holds up a blue plastic diaphragm case.

In the 1950s, diaphragm cases were cloth or rubber.

Plastic cases appeared in the 1970s.

The turntable tonearm is of late-1960s vintage.

When 'Doris Day (I)' (qv)'s "Secret Love" plays, the record has a 1960s RCA Victor classical label.

The album was produced by Columbia Records.

When Betty is typing her editorial against the school nurse, she narrates it as".

has been willingly distributing.

" but when we see what is being typed, she types "disb" as the start of "distributing.

" During Katherine's talk with Stan, her drink alternates between being nearly full and almost empty between shots.

When Katherine is walking along the outdoor corridor with the tile floor and columns before Bill gives her the belated Christmas present, the tile floor clearly has water puddles along it.

When the camera moves to the close-up view and Bill gives the gift to Catherine, the tile floor is completely dry.

During Betty's wedding reception, the band plays a rousing number.

The sound from the trumpets is what would be produced with a metal mute, but the trumpets have no mutes.

At a table scene with Katherine, Nancy and Bill during Betty's wedding reception, Nancy walks into the scene twice to see if Katherine wants anything to drink.

The slide of the Sistine Chapel in Katherine's Christmas present is a photo of the Chapel ceiling after it was restored in the 1990s.

Early in the film, Giselle is running.

At one point, you can clearly see the microphone taped inside her shirt.

At the beginning of the movie, when Katherine is getting off the train, the lady in gray standing behind her is not the same lady who touches her shoulder and says "Excuse me.

" When Katherine visits Joan's house to show her law school brochures, there are palm plants in the front of the house.

These plants would not survive in the climate of Massachusetts where the film is set.

When Katherine is showing the first slide of the Advertisements, we hear her say "slide", but her mouth is clearly not moving.

During the wedding reception, when Nancy explains to Katherine that her husband didn't die in the war, a slow song is playing.

For a second, the people in the background dance very quickly.

During the Maypole dance, the first shot of the maypole already has a tight pattern made at the top.

In the second shot of the maypole, the ribbons are just starting to go around the pole.

When Katherine Watson gives Joan Brandwyn the Yale Law School application, "juris doctor" is misspelled as "jurus doctor".

At the Adam's Rib party, Giselle is sitting in the window, with her hair parted in the middle and her forehead visible.

In the next shot, when she moves into the room, her hair is parted on one side and sweeping across her forehead.

The "AR" (Adam's Rib) party is supposed to be at 5 PM, and it's winter in New England, yet it appears to be broad daylight outside the windows.

When President Carr is dictating the invitation for Katherine's return to Wellesley, her secretary is writing in shorthand that makes absolutely no sense.

The only correct word is the first, which reads "Dear".

With the exception of Christmas break, all the bar scenes are similar.

Bill is wearing the same sweater, and Katherine's hair is always half-up, her earrings are always the same (as well as in the Christmas Break scene), and her outfit is the same by adding either a coat or a vest.

These are all supposed to be happening at different times but are all very similar.

In the graduation scene, when Betty is asking Katherine Watson for the address, she is seen running out of the building, hair disheveled and no hat, but when her mother approaches her, she is wearing a purple hat like all the other girls and her hair is neat.

The first day of art history class, Katherine Watson brings in two black slide cases.

When is class is over, she leaves with one red slide case.

When Katherine Watson [Julia Roberts] is studying Joan Brandwyn's [Julia Stiles] file, it says that Joan attended Miss Porters School in Lower Merion, PA.

Miss Porters School is in Farmington, CT.

At the wedding, champagne is served in flute glasses, which were not popular and rarely used for champagne until the 1970s, when drier vintages became preferred; instead the champagne coupe (or saucer) glass was almost universally used for serving the beverage in the 1950s, and still is in champagne fountains at weddings.

In the graduation scene, Amanda Armstrong who was fired earlier in the movie can be seen sitting down to take a picture with the class and teachers in her cap and gown.

During the first course given by Katherine Watson, she claims that the Lascaux cave painting was discovered in 1879, actually it was discovered in 1940.

During the slide show, Dr.

Watson says "A Rhodes scholar.

I wonder if she recites 'Geoffrey Chaucer' (qv) while she presses her husband's shirts".

Women were not even permitted to apply for Rhodes scholarships until 1977.

Part way through the film, Katherine and friends are seen walking into a bar in Wellesley, Wellesley was a totally dry town in the 1950s.

Given the start time on "freeview" I had expected this to be a good film, given the cast and some reviews. However, within a matter of minutes we have 1 teacher still upset over the loss of her female lover!

I just read the first review in the metacritic section and felt compelled to comment. Written in 2003, it starts: « the fight against traditionalism has long been won ».

Boring as hell, to the point of giving me a headache. If you can't sleep and don't have anything to do in your life, not even some good and entertaining dish washing, then you may as well sit and try watching this dusty masterpiece of boredom.

As a female, I am of course already aware of the injustice and oppression that my gender has suffered throughout history. This movie adds nothing of substance.

Julia Roberts put on a pretty good performance in this as Katherine Watson, a young art history instructor at Wellesley College in 1953. Wellesley is portrayed in the movie as a bastion of tradition - and especially of the traditional role of women, which was to be wives and mothers.

Mona Lisa Smile (2003): Dir: Mike Newell / Cast: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin: Recycled rehash about finding the good among the bad. That is pretty much an even clash with this film.

It's 1953, Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) is a California girl hired as an Art History teacher at the conservative all girls Wellesley College. The students are all from upper crust families, top academically, and aiming to get marry.

If a movie could represent the stereotypical american movie filed with good ideas but with a classical, unoriginal direction wich made it feel like the umpteenth of its kind it's this one for sure. It's a shame when you know how well it brings to you and explores some of its themes.

The smile of mona lisa is a film which makes me think enormously of the film "the circle of the missing poets". But with the conditions of women in society, and julia roberts, great actress, who fights for the freedom of women's rights.