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Rating: 2 out of 5
I am a big supporter of mental health. I believe that your mental health should be a top priority. I have been doing therapy for several years now. I tell people that going to therapy was the best investment I have ever made in myself. I do my therapy at a university, working with graduate students. I am currently on my sixth therapist. You might think this a lot, but the reason is I started with the program and allowed each person I worked with to help me. I have had the incredible privilege of learning about myself and being happier. I owe each of my therapists so much. I bring up therapy because I just watched the movie Girl, Interrupted. The women in this film are in far different situations than I am. I never ended up in a psychiatric hospital. I feel like everyone needs someone to talk to.
Girl, Interrupted is a film based on Susanna Kaysen’s memoir that follows a young woman who, after a suicide attempt, spends 18 months at a psychiatric hospital in the late 1960s. Yet, watching this film, I was disappointed and not impressed with the representation and sheer high maintenance of the main character. In 1967, Susanna Kaysen (Ryder) is depressed and directionless as she had just finished her senior year. As everyone around her plans for college, Susanna has a nervous breakdown after overdosing on aspirin and alcohol. This one situation lands her in the mental institution, Claymoore. Susanna’s life had been quite “fun” as she had previously had an affair with Professor Gilcrest, an English instructor, and a casual relationship with a young man, Toby (Leto). Dr. Melvin Potts concludes and diagnoses her with a borderline personality disorder. When Susanna rolls up to Claymoore, she is greeted by Nurse Valerie Owens (Goldberg). She is shown around the woman’s ward and meets a few cast of characters: Polly Clark (Moss), a childlike schizophrenic and severe burn victim; Georgina Tuskin (DuVall), a pathological liar; Daisy Randone (Murphy), who self-harms and has obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as being implied to be bulimic; and Janet Webber (Bettis), a sardonic woman with anorexia. These characters have nothing on the sociopath Lisa Rowe (Jolie), the rebellious troublemaker who strongly influences the other girls and a usual escapee. As Susanna and Lisa’s relationship and friendship grow, Susanna soon realizes that if she really wants to get help and become better, she must get rid of the toxic people.
I know everyone has issues/problems, and we all deal with them differently, but Susanna was a spoiled brat in this film and felt like she put up more of a rebellious strike than anything else. The film played as if it was going off her journal entries and felt blah. Honestly, my disdain for Susanna put me off of this film. The reality of the situation didn’t hit Susanna initially because she was a naïve 18-year-old girl. She really didn’t need to be in the hospital at all. She played around and thought it was some joke that she was there. What she needed were a stern talk and an ass whippin. I was happy when Nurse Owens threw her punk ass in that ice-cold water and told her to get her shit together. After a wild night with Lisa, Susanna finally realizes that she wants to get help and move the fuck on with her life. She focuses on herself and does her best to get better through journaling.
I believe that the primary source of this film is Lisa and her relationship and influence over the other girls. I don’t know what problems Lisa had, but you could tell that she was just a black cloud over the girls. Yea, she was rebellious and said whatever she wanted, but she was also crazy and a manipulator. She knew exactly what she was doing and, to me, just wanted attention. When she returned to the facility, she returned with much fanfare, and the second she saw Susanna, she slithered over and wrapped her coils around her. She berated the other girls but also had fun with them. The bowling scene was touching because it showed the girls having fun, but Lisa had them break into the doctor’s office to get their files. The most heinous act was when Lisa and Susanna dipped out from the facility and went on this mini-adventure. They end up at Daisy’s apartment, and Lisa is a total bitch to Daisy. That night Daisy kills herself, and rather than feeling sorry, she takes Daisy’s money. The ultimate scene is when Susanna truly stands up to Lisa. You see that Lisa is a broken person on the inside, but you feel little remorse for her.
Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen was okay. She didn’t command the screen as the title character. I found her character more annoying than anything else. To be honest, even though she read off her thoughts, she could’ve been anyone, and I wouldn’t have cared. The other characters were far more interesting. For example, Brittany Murphy as Daisy Randone was interesting because her daddy was doing no-no to her, but she was addicted to laxatives. That was strange as that stuff can MESS you up. She also kept the cooked chicken carcasses that her father brought her in her room. You knew her room had to smell bad. Even Angela Bettis as Janet Webber was someone that caught your attention. She was anorexic and thought 85 pounds was fantastic. She was loud and exploded at an unusual time. Finally, Elisabeth Moss as Polly “Torch” Clark seemed like the sweetest character. She is scarred from a house fire, but she was the only one fit for taking care of the cat. Had no issue with her.
Now, the one who stole the show was Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe. I don’t know what Jolie did to prepare for this role, but damn was she fantastic. When you play an unstable person, you deserve an award because when Jolie came on the screen as Lisa, she commanded the whole movie. Honestly, your attention drew away from Susanna and more towards Lisa because she was charismatic, manipulative, rebellious, abusive, and gave the staff hell. Also, how do you escape from the facility so many times? Do you have a freakin key??
Girl, Interrupted is not a great movie; it’s just meh. You might watch this film because either you read the book or want to see Angelina Jolie do her thang and steal this movie. After that, the movie is a bore as Susanna is an irritating person and story.
