Friday Night In: A Non-Traditional Valentine's Choice

A movie, a book, and a TV show that share a theme

Okay, so I know it’s Valentine’s Day and that I’m a romance writer and should probably be giving you a list of romantic movies for this evening. However, since I’m sure you already know which movies would be on that kind of list, I decided to do something a little different this time.

Let’s be a little rebellious and choose a movie that does have a little romance but also shows some characters leaning into their singlehood.

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

Somehow, despite having a cast of actresses I really enjoy (Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, and Maggie Gyllenhaal), I had never seen Mona Lisa Smile. I’m not sure why. Maybe the title threw me off? It makes sense for the movie once you see it but doesn’t exactly grab you.

Set in 1953 at Wellesley College, Mona Lisa Smile is about Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), an art professor with modern ideas, who ends up teaching a class of incredibly bright and talented young women. She’s impressed by how sharp these girls are but soon finds out that they aren’t in college to advance into a career. Instead they are there biding time until they can find a good husband and become a housewife.

Miss Watson is a feminist who wants to show them that they have more options than that, but social norms and the current school rules/culture (plus a very determined Kirsten Dunst) are hard to fight against. Miss Watson bonds with a number of the girls (and deals with some romantic entanglements of her own), but she’s determined to push the women to think beyond what society has prescribed for them (the trad wife life.)

I loved that this was set on a college campus and gave me all the fall/winter vibes. I enjoyed the interplay between Miss Watson and the girls and the peek into the 1950s. I think sometimes the message was heavy-handed, but overall, I really enjoyed the movie. What I particularly liked was that it showed a number of different paths for these women and how all could be valid. The point was that women should have a choice.

So if you want a Valentine’s night movie that has a little romance but also a focus on the joys of singlehood, this might be a good choice!

A book pairing

If you want to pair a book with this, I’d recommend Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Amazon | Bookshop.org | Libro.fm). This story is also set in the 1950s and speaks to the same themes of women trying to gain some independence when society just wants them in the kitchen. I did a full review of the book here.

A bonus TV show

And if you like the book or just want more of that 1950s women-fighting-the-man vibe, there’s also a TV show based on the book, which did a good job translating the book to screen. Random, but I love that her dog (whose name is Six-Thirty and who has a POV in the book) made it into the promo ad above. :)

---

That’s all I have for you today. Happy Valentine’s Day and I hope you have a great weekend!

What are you doing for the holiday? Are you a stay-in or go-out person? (We are definitely staying in over here.)