Some have compared the film to the Oscar-nominated Dead Poets Society. But whatever you do, don't call it a 'chick flick' around its largely female cast.

"What is a chick flick?" grouses the film's other Julia, Julia Stiles. "It's weird, because Master And Commander is not 'a guy flick,' is it?"

Indeed, producer Goldsmith-Thomas calls Mona Lisa Smile every bit a war movie, only 'more subversive'.

Mona Lisa Smile isn't about bra-burning and women's lib. It's set in the early 1950s, after all. The traditions its characters rebel against are more basic. Roberts' Katherine Watson inspires her highly intelligent pupils through the study of post-modern art. Of course, not everyone at the conservative New England campus is thrilled about the kooky Californian's unorthodox teaching methods or her influence on the students outside of the classroom.

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