Editing Mona Lisa (film)

{{short description|1986 film by Neil Jordan}}
{{use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Mona Lisa
| image          = Original movie poster for the film Mona Lisa.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster 
| director       = [[Neil Jordan]]
| producer       = [[Stephen Woolley]]
| writer         = Neil Jordan<br />[[David Leland]]
| starring      = {{plainlist|
* [[Bob Hoskins]]
* [[Cathy Tyson]]
* [[Robbie Coltrane]]
* [[Michael Caine]]
}}
| music          = [[Michael Kamen]]
| cinematography = [[Roger Pratt (cinematographer)|Roger Pratt]]
| editing        = [[Lesley Walker]]
| studio         = [[HandMade Films]]
| distributor    = [[Palace Pictures]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Mona Lisa (1986)|website=[[BBFC]]|access-date=1 September 2024|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/mona-lisa-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynzk5mzc}}</ref>
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|1986|6|13|US|1986|9|19|UK}}
| runtime        = 104 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English 
| budget         = £2 million<ref>Alexander Walker, ''Icons in the Fire: The Rise and Fall of Practically Everyone in the British Film Industry 1984–2000'', Orion Books, 2005 p. 54 {{ISBN missing}}</ref> or £2.4 million<ref name="org">{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-back-to-the-future-the-fall-and-rise-of-the-british-film-industry-in-the-1980s.pdf|page=26|title=Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing|website=British Film Institute|date=2005}}</ref>
| gross          =£4,107,000 (UK)<ref name="org"/>
}}
'''''Mona Lisa''''' is a 1986 British [[neo-noir]]<ref name="French">{{cite news | date=26 July 2015 | author=Philip French | author-link=Philip French | title=The Long Good Friday/Mona Lisa review – captivating visions of London's underworld | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jul/26/long-good-friday-mona-lisa-dvd-review-philip-french | newspaper=[[The Guardian]] | access-date=9 November 2016 }}</ref> [[crime film|crime]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] about an ex-convict who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class [[call girl]]. The film was written by [[Neil Jordan]] and [[David Leland]], and directed by Jordan. It was produced by [[HandMade Films]] and stars [[Bob Hoskins]], [[Cathy Tyson]], and [[Michael Caine]].

The film was nominated for multiple awards, and Bob Hoskins was nominated for several awards for his performance (including the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]]), winning the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama]] and [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role]]. The film seems to take its title from the song "[[Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole song)|Mona Lisa]]" heard throughout the film.

==Plot==
George, a low-level working-class gangster recently released after seven years in prison, is given a job in London by his former boss, Denny Mortwell, as the driver and bodyguard for a high-priced prostitute named Simone. Mortwell also wants George to gather information on one of Simone's wealthy customers for blackmail purposes. Simone, who has worked hard to develop high-class manners and an elite clientele, initially dislikes the uncouth and outspoken George, and he regards her as putting on airs. But as George and Simone find out more about each other, they form a friendship, and George begins to fall in love with her. George agrees, at the risk of his own life, to help Simone find her teenage friend Cathy, who has disappeared, and who Simone fears is being abused by her violent former pimp, Anderson.

George increasingly finds himself torn between his feelings for Simone, his obligations to his boss Mortwell, and his relationship with his teenage daughter Jeannie, a sweet normal girl who has matured while he was in prison and wants to have her father in her life.

When Anderson stalks Simone to her flat and tries to slash her, George takes her to the secluded garage where he lives with his friend Thomas and then finds the drug-addled Cathy. He takes the two girls to a hotel in Brighton and gives Simone a gun for protection, but then discovers that the pair are lovers. When Mortwell and Anderson arrive to take back control of the girls, Simone shoots them both dead and turns her gun towards George. He punches her, takes the gun and leaves. Freed of his underworld obligations, he returns to a more normal life, working in Thomas's garage and spending time with Jeannie.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Bob Hoskins]] as George
* [[Cathy Tyson]] as Simone
* [[Michael Caine]] as Denny Mortwell
* [[Robbie Coltrane]] as Thomas
* [[Clarke Peters]] as Anderson
* [[Kate Hardie]] as Cathy
* [[Zoë Nathenson]] as Jeannie
* [[Sammi Davis]] as May
* Rod Bedall as Terry
* [[Joe Brown (musician)|Joe Brown]] as Dudley
* [[Pauline Melville]] as George's Wife
* Hossein Karimbeik as Raschid
* John Darling as hotel security
* [[Maggie O'Neill]] as girl in Paradise Club
* [[Bryan Coleman]] as gentleman in mirror room
* [[Robert Dorning]] as hotel bedroom man
* [[Perry Fenwick]] as pimp
}}

==Reception==
The film received positive critical reception when released in 1986. Film critic [[Roger Ebert]] wrote of the two main characters: "The relationship of their characters in the film is interesting, because both people, for personal reasons, have developed a style that doesn't reveal very much."<ref name="Ebert">[[Roger Ebert|Ebert, Roger]] (2 July 1986) [https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mona-lisa-1986 "Review: ''Mona Lisa''"] ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' (Retrieved: 6 July 2021)</ref> [[Leslie Halliwell]], referring to [[Bob Hoskins]], stated: "Only this actor could make a hit of this unsavoury yarn, with its highlights of sex and violence. But he did."<ref>''Halliwell's Film Guide'', 7th edition 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-00-638868-5}}.</ref> [[Vincent Canby]], writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', dismissed the film as "classy kitsch... as smooth and distinctive (and, ultimately, as insubstantial) as the old Nat (King) Cole recording of the song, which gives the film its title and a lot of its mood".<ref name="Canby">[[Vincent Canby|Canby, Vincent]] (13 July 1986) [https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DE7D81F3EF930A25755C0A960948260 "Movie Review: ''Mona Lisa'' (1986)"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' (Retrieved: 12 March 2010)</ref> ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' called it "A wonderful achievement, a dark film with a generous heart in the shape of an extraordinarily touching performance from Hoskins."<ref>''https://www.timeout.com/movies/mona-lisa#google_vignette</ref>  ''[[Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide]]'' declared: "Hoskins and newcomer Tyson are terrific; Caine is wonderfully slimy in support."<ref>''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2011 edition'', .</ref> [[Pauline Kael]] praised the film: "{{nbsp}}... Jordan shows a gift for making the emotional atmosphere visual, and vice versa. And the way he uses baroque touches and the clichés of old thrillers, they become part of a fluid, enjoyable texture, a melodramatic impasto with an expressive power of its own—a romanticism that pulls you along."<ref> Kael, Pauline ''5001 Nights at the Movies'' 1991 {{ISBN|0-8050-1366-0}}.</ref>

On [[Metacritic]] ''Mona Lisa'' has a score of 85 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/mona-lisa/ |title=Mona Lisa |website=Metacritic.com}}</ref> On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film holds a 98% rating based on 40 reviews. The site's consensus: "Bob Hoskins is outstanding in ''Mona Lisa'', giving this stylish neo-noir a riveting centerpiece that sets it apart from similar stories."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mona_lisa | title=Mona Lisa &#124; Rotten Tomatoes | website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] }}</ref>

==Accolades==
[[Bob Hoskins]] was praised for his performance and was awarded the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama|Golden Globe Award]], [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|BAFTA Award]], [[Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor|Cannes Film Festival Award]], all for Best Actor. Despite this heavy acclaim, he lost the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] to [[Paul Newman]] in ''[[The Color of Money]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

{| class="wikitable"
|- 
! Year
! Award
! Result
! Recipient
|-
| rowspan="14" | 1986 || [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] || {{nom}} || rowspan="2" | [[Bob Hoskins]]
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role]] || {{won}} 
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role]] || {{nom}} || [[Cathy Tyson]]
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama]] || {{won}} || Bob Hoskins
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]]  || {{nom}} || Cathy Tyson
|-
| [[Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor]] || {{won}} || rowspan="3" | Bob Hoskins
|-
| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor]] || {{won}} 
|-
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor || {{won}} 
|-
| [[London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor]] || {{won}} || Bob Hoskins<br />Tied with [[William Hurt]] – ''[[Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985 film)|Kiss of the Spider Woman]]''
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor]] || {{won}} || Bob Hoskins
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress]] || {{won}} || Cathy Tyson
|-
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor]] || {{won}} || rowspan="3" | Bob Hoskins
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor]] || {{won}} 
|-
| [[Valladolid International Film Festival for Best Actor]] || {{won}} 
|}

==See also==
* [[BFI Top 100 British films]]
* [[Trinity Court, Gray’s Inn Road]], film location

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0091538}}
* {{Screenonline title|480147}}
* {{Rotten-tomatoes|mona_lisa}}
* {{Mojo title|monalisa}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/112-mona-lisa Essay] by Neil Jordan at the [[Criterion Collection]]
* {{Metacritic film}}

{{Neil Jordan}}
{{HandMade Films}}

[[Category:1986 films]]
[[Category:1986 crime drama films]]
[[Category:1986 LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:British crime drama films]]
[[Category:British LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:Films about prostitution in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Films directed by Neil Jordan]]
[[Category:Films scored by Michael Kamen]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance]]
[[Category:Films set in Brighton]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:HandMade Films films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s British films]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related crime drama films]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]