Extraordinary and splendid film about the relationship among a wonderful teacher and her pupils

The 'inspirational teacher' film has a long history and most of it have used the central figure to criticize the assumptions on which the existing educational system is based. For an instance, in `Dead Poets' Society' Robin Williams plays a teacher who leads his students to question the conformist ideas which lie at the heart of the educational philosophy of their elite boarding school.

In `Mona Lisa Smile', Julia Roberts plays Katherine Watson, in many ways a female version of Robin Williams's character. Like `Dead Poets' Society', the film is set in the 1950s. Katherine arrives at Wellesley College, an elite women's university in New England, to teach History of Art. She is a woman with a mission, or rather a woman with two missions. Her first is to increase her students' appreciation of modern art, which does not form part of the official curriculum. Rather than teach the approved syllabus (about which the girls seem formidably knowledgeable), Katherine prefers to lecture them on Picasso or show them works by Jackson Pollock.

The other cause dear to Katherine's heart is feminism, which in this particular context is a far more radical one. Although Wellesley College is officially a women's university, its ethos (as Katherine points out) is much more that of a girl's finishing school whose purpose is to give its students an advantage in the marriage market. Courses on offer include elocution, deportment and, it would seem, how to give a dinner-party for your future husband's boss. Students are not only permitted but positively encouraged to get married while studying. The college establishment find the idea of a working married woman, or of a woman pursuing a traditionally male career, particularly objectionable. It does not, therefore please them when Katherine encourages Joan to apply to law school and become a lawyer.

The main weakness of the film is that, although Katherine is supposed to be a woman with passionately held views, there is something cold and formal about her demeanor, which means that her opinions never seem to be expressed with much conviction. She lacks the passion and commitment that Robin Williams brought to his role in 'Dead Poets' Society'.

Yet, there were other good points about the film, for example, the soundtrack was nice, the costumes were perfectly designed, everyone was cast perfectly, and the direction was flawless.