An Invisible Sign
An Invisible Sign is a 2010 American drama film directed by Marilyn Agrelo and starring Jessica Alba, J. K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Sophie Nyweide, and Bailee Madison. Based on the 2001 novel "An Invisible Sign of My Own" by Aimee Bender, the film is about a painfully withdrawn young woman who, as a child, turned to math for comfort after her father became ill, and now as an adult, teaches the subject and must help her students through their own crises. For her performance in the film, Bailee Madison received a 2011 Young Artist Award nomination for  Best Performance in a Feature Film. Plot. Mona Gray (Jessica Alba) systematically withdraws from life into a world of mathematics after a mysterious mental illness leaves her father (John Shea) incapacitated and a shell of his former self. Forced by her mother to move out on her own, Mona gets a job as a math teacher at an elementary school. There she discovers she has an unorthodox talent for teaching and finds herself thrust back into life again, with children to care for, and a reason to live. Mona takes special interest in one of her students, Lisa Venus (Sophie  Nyweide), whose mother is dying of cancer. When fellow teacher Ben Smith (Chris Messina) shows romantic interest in her, Mona reverts to some of her old self-destructive impulses. Eventually, Mona discovers her value in the love she shows her students, and Ben's patience is finally rewarded as the two find love in each other. Aimee Bender's 2001 novel "An Invisible Sign of My Own" was adapted for the screen by "The Wedding Planner" scribes Michael Ellis and Pamela Falk. A test screening was shown at Comsewogue High School in Port Jefferson Station, New York. The film premiered  at the 18th Hamptons International Film Festival on October 7, 2010. It was released through video on demand on April 1, 2011, and premiered in theaters on May 6, 2011. Reception. The film received universally negative reviews upon release. , the film holds a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on fifteen reviews with an average rating of 3.05/10, including mentions to the film's "boredom" and singling out both Alba's performance and Agrelo's direction.