Susanna Kaysen was only 18 when she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder at a Massachusetts psychiatric hospital in 1967. She spent eighteen months as a patient at the facility. Her experiences formed the basis for a best-selling 1993 memoir called Girl, Interrupted.
Director James Mangold adapted his screenplay for the 1999 film from Kaysen's book (with the help of co-writers Lisa Loomer and Anne Hamilton Phelan).
Winona Ryder Plays The Author
"Maybe I was just crazy ... maybe it was the Sixties ... maybe I was just a girl, interrupted."
That's Ryder's voice on the soundtrack, playing the film's version of Kaysen, as she attempts to make sense of the illness which haunted her as a young woman.
In the film, Kaysen reaches out cautiously to the other young women in the ward, each of whom is suffering from an emotional and/or psychological problem of her own.
Scenes from our heroine's past flicker through the narrative like acid flashbacks. So far so blah.
Then Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie) explodes onto the scene and the film sputters to life.
Jolie Is A Force of Nature as Rebellious Patient
Seductive, volatile and ruthless, Jolie's Lisa is an arrestingly complex character and the actress brings her kicking and screaming to life in a potent performance which swoops from dizzying highs to soul-paralyzing lows without missing a beat.
Fascinated by this wild, charismatic young woman, Susanna begins to come out of her shell and the stage is set for an intriguing study in polar opposites.
Epilogue
The movie met with mixed reviews. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called it "shrewd, tough and lively". Washington Post critic Rita Kempley was less impressed ("Tired conventions, hoary themes, obvious conclusions.") Kaysen herself is quoted as saying that she really "hated" the movie.
However, there is no denying the power of Jolie's portrayal.
Reporting in the student newspaper on a 2003 speaking engagement by the author at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, Jared Danker writes: "The film distorted many of the characters brought to life in Kaysen's book. When asked which character was most accurately portrayed in the movie, Kaysen cited Angelina Jolie's Oscar-winning performance of the sociopath Lisa as the most true to life."
Jolie rightly earned an Oscar (and a Golden Globe) for her incendiary performance.
Yet it was Ryder who was the driving force in getting the film made. (In addition to starring in the film, she is also listed as executive producer.)
In fact, it was Ryder who recommended Jolie for the role of Lisa after seeing her fearless performance as self-destructive model Gia Caragi in HBO's 1998 TV movie Gia.
Brittany Murphy plays Daisy Randone, a patient being treated for anorexia at the hospital. In light of her widely reported erratic behaviour and emotional issues prior to her tragic passing at the age of 32, watching the late actress playing a fragile and deeply troubled young woman makes for sobering viewing.
The film also offers a look at future Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Elisabeth Moss (feisty secretary Peggy Olsen in AMC's Mad Men ) in the role of Polly Clark, a young burn victim nicknamed "Torch".
Girl, Interrupted would seem to be geared for a young female demographic. However, the coarse language and the prickly characters depicted in the film may prove to be a little too edgy for conservative tastes.
Richard Goertz - Richard Goertz has a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in English and History acquired light years ago (when his hair was longer) and have ...
