# Mona Lisa (film)

Mona Lisa is a 1986 British neo-noir crime 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" 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

* 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 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." 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." 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". Time Out called it "A wonderful achievement, a dark film with a generous heart in the shape of an extraordinarily touching performance from Hoskins." Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide declared: "Hoskins and newcomer Tyson are terrific; Caine is wonderfully slimy in support." Pauline Kael praised the film: "...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."
On Metacritic Mona Lisa has a score of 85 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics. 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."

## Accolades

Bob Hoskins was praised for his performance and was awarded the Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, Prix d'interprétation masculine at the Cannes Film Festival, and other awards. Despite this heavy acclaim, he lost the Academy Award for Best Actor to Paul Newman in The Color of Money.
| Year | Award | Result | Recipient |
| 1986 | Academy Award for Best Actor | Nominated | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role | Nominated | Cathy Tyson |
| 1986 | Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Nominated | Cathy Tyson |
| 1986 | Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins Tied with William Hurt – Kiss of the Spider Woman |
| 1986 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress | Won | Cathy Tyson |
| 1986 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins |
| 1986 | Valladolid International Film Festival for Best Actor | Won | Bob Hoskins |