The Mona Lisa Smile
The Mona Lisa Smile came out in 2003. There is a specific Heavenletter-reason why I am writing a blog about this movie.
The movie takes place in 1953 at the all-girls’ Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
Julia Roberts, a new Art History teacher at the school, bravely in that time and culture, encourages her students to be true to themselves and not take marriage as their only option.
From the beginning, Kirsten Dunst is openly and extremely antagonistic towards Julia Roberts and her progressive ideas. Kirsten is a great believer in a woman’s putting herself and her abilities aside in favor of becoming the perfect wife. She married that year and devoted herself to her husband and their life together. She would self-righteously come to class late because making her husband breakfast came first.
It turned out that her husband was in love with another woman early in their marriage, and marriage was not at all what Kirsten had been sure it would be.
When Kirsten’s marriage totally falls apart, there is a scene where she has a fit with one of her girlfriends who has chosen to be independent. Kirsten verbally attacked her friend, yelled and screamed at her in front of their other friends.
I know if someone attacked me in that way, I would be angry. I would think: “Who does she think she is? She can’t talk to me that way. I have been nothing but a good friend to her, and this is how she treats me…blah blah.” Probably I would have walked out in tears.
But what did the friend Kirsten was attacking do? She wasn’t angry. She didn’t even have to put aside her anger. Instead of anger, she understood how unhappy Kirsten was, and she did not take Kirsten’s verbal assault on her personally. Instead, she went right over to Kirsten and hugged her. It was beautiful.
Isn’t that what God tells us to do? And then, Kirsten was able to let go, cry, and hug her friend back.
This was such a beautiful example of responding from a higher place.
I would sure like to be like Kirsten’s friend in the movie.
Godwriting is a blog by Gloria Wendroff and is about Gloria's daily life as the Godwriter of the Heavenletters project that is having a profound effect on the lives of people around the world.
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