# Need a recommendation fast - movie/documentary that features women's college? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823 "2009-10-06T16:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/1 "2009-10-06T16:24:33Z")
For tomorrow’s lecture, I intend to spend some time talking about women’s colleges in the early 20th century. In years past, I’ve shown a clip from the film _The Group_, but my 21st century students found it cheesy (and me as well, I suppose). So all of you film mavens, can you think of a film that features a women’s college prominently - that maybe adds context to the story? A documentary would be great as well… in fact, probably better. I’m not looking for a film just shot on a women’s college campus - Tyler Perry’s _Why Did I Get Married_ was filmed in part at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, but it has no bearing on the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/2 "2009-10-06T16:38:50Z")
Well I can think of two, but they are somewhat different than your stated request. The Australian film **Flirting** with Nicole Kidman features a women’s school but that is I think a boarding schools with all grade levels. Clint Eastwood’s **The Beguiled** takes place in a woman’s “seminary” in the civil war. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/3 "2009-10-06T16:39:48Z")
The only one I can think of off hand is **Mona Lisa Smile** , but an IMDB keyword search using college, female, women’s and others comes up pretty empty. But feel free to take a look… > **[Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword...](https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=all-girl-school)** > > IMDb's advanced search allows you to run extremely powerful queries over all people and titles in the database. Find exactly what you're looking for! > **[Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword...](https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=girls%27-school)** > > IMDb's advanced search allows you to run extremely powerful queries over all people and titles in the database. Find exactly what you're looking for! ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/4 "2009-10-06T16:46:40Z")
Not a recommendation, as I haven’t seen it, but I found [this](http://www.stuvu.com/smith-college/my-word-a-documentary-about-smith-college-prt-1-video). ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/5 "2009-10-06T16:48:56Z")
This [The Home Economics Story (Short 1951) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308375/) was filmed at Iowa State university. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/6 "2009-10-06T16:58:24Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > I’m not looking for a film just shot on a women’s college campus - Tyler Perry’s _Why Did I Get Married_ was filmed in part at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, but it has no bearing on the plot. As was _Mona Lisa Smile_. _And Scream II_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/7 "2009-10-06T17:17:50Z")
Great recs! I actually will take a look at _Mona Lisa Smile…_ looks like it might have the stuff I’m looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/8 "2009-10-06T17:55:11Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > As was _Mona Lisa Smile_. _And Scream II_. 😉 Ah, the old alma mater. We all went to see _Scream II_ when it came out - not for the movie, but for the campus! ETA - but as far as I know, Mona Lisa Smile wasn’t filmed there. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/9 "2009-10-06T18:06:19Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > ETA - but as far as I know, Mona Lisa Smile wasn’t filmed there. Wikipedia states that it was filmed at Columbia, Yale, and some exteriors of the quad at Wellesley… ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/10 "2009-10-06T23:33:56Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Great recs! I actually will take a look at _Mona Lisa Smile…_ looks like it might have the stuff I’m looking for. AFAIK _Mona Lisa Smile_ is the only recent film set at a women’s college, but it isn’t particularly realistic even for the era being depicted. A lot of Wellesley alumnae were quite angry about the way their school was depicted in the movie. Wellesley was not a highly conservative, glorified finishing school even in the 1950s. Madeleine Albright was a student at Wellesley at about the same time as the movie was set. Modern art wouldn’t have been anything new on campus then either. At the time the film was set, [Wellesley had been offering courses in modern art for about 25 years](http://www.wellesley.edu/Admission/about/MLSfinal.html). As a woman’s college (not Wellesley) alumna myself I wish I could recommend a good movie on the subject to you, but unfortunately I don’t know of any. The heroine of the Fred Astaire musical _Daddy Long Legs_ (1955) does attend a women’s college, but IIRC very little of the film takes place there aside from a school dance scene. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@Brainiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/11 "2009-10-07T01:45:20Z")
Animal House has a scene outside a women’s college. I think Carnal Knowledge had a women’s college in it. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/12 "2009-10-07T02:02:57Z")
Wellesley itself was pissed off by the movie. The school’s administration approved an early version of the script that was quite different from the final version. Can’t think of other movies set at a women’s college… ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/13 "2009-10-07T14:23:02Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Ah, the old alma mater. We all went to see _Scream II_ when it came out - not for the movie, but for the campus! > > ETA - but as far as I know, Mona Lisa Smile wasn’t filmed there. You are absolutely right. My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-recommendation-fast-movie-documentary-that-features-womens-college/512823/14 "2009-10-07T17:04:29Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > The heroine of the Fred Astaire musical _Daddy Long Legs_ (1955) does attend a women’s college, but IIRC very little of the film takes place there aside from a school dance scene. That’s the movie I thought of as well. There are a few other scences, but they mostly involve dorm life, rather than anything academic. There’s a 1979 movie called [_Uncommon Women… and Others_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080059/) which sounds promising, but I’ve never seen it.