CAST: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg, Clea DuVall
and Vanessa Redgrave.
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours & 7 min.
RATING: R for strong language and content relating to drugs,
sexuality and suicide.
RELEASED: December 21, 1999
SUMMARY: In 1967, Susanna Kaysen
after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never
seen before, Susanna Kaysen was diagnosed with Borderline Personality
Disorder-an affliction with symptoms so ambiguous almost any adolescent girl
might qualify-and sent to a renowned New England psychiatric hospital where
she spent the next two years in a ward for teenage girls. There, Susanna
loses herself in an OZ-like nether world of seductive and disturbed young
women: among them Lisa, a charming sociopath who stages a disastrous
escape with Susanna, Daisy, a pampered girl with a predilection for
rotisserie chicken, and Polly, a remarkably kind burn victim. Ultimately,
assisted by the hospital's head psychiatrist, Dr. Wick, and a no-nonsense
ward nurse, Valerie, Susanna, like Dorothy, resolves to leave this Oz and
reclaim her life.
by Michael Dequina |
Girl, Interrupted
Columbia, Rated R
The title of Girl, Interrupted bears a singular subject, but
audiences will likely walk out of James Mangold's adaptation of
Susanna Kaysen's memoir thinking of two "girls"--Winona Ryder
and Angelina Jolie, who further cement their reputations as two of
the most gifted young screen actresses today. It's unfortunate,
however, that the script often isn't as strong as they are. But what
is fortunate is that their performances more than compensate for
the shortcomings in the writing department.
Ryder plays the "girl" of the title, Susanna, who in the 1960s is
sent to the Claymoore mental hospital after pressure from her
parents and a therapist. Though she was hospitalized for chasing
a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka, Susanna is more
depressed and unmotivated than truly mentally ill--a statement
which doesn't necessarily hold true for her peers at Claymoore.
Her roommate is Georgina (Clea Duvall), a pathological liar; she
also spends time with self-inflicted burn victim Polly (Elisabeth
Moss) and laxative junkie Daisy (Brittany Murphy).
Susanna ends up bonding most strongly with the most volatile
patient, Lisa (Jolie), whom we first meet being dragged back into
the ward after an escape attempt. Dangerous, carefree, and
intensely charismatic, Lisa cannot help but captivate Susanna's
attention--and that of the audience. It's a role perfectly suited for
Best Supporting Actress Oscar aspirations, and Jolie (who has
already garnered a Golden Globe nod and the Broadcast Film
Critics Association's Supporting Actress prize) runs with the
opportunity. There's more to her performance than the expected
fits and teary breakdowns; she is able to make Lisa into a
multidimensional person, with real humanity behind the
histrionics. She will undoubtedly be competing for the golden
statuette in March.
By comparison, more likely to be overlooked is Ryder's
performance, which is very much Jolie's equal. Susanna is
basically the calm audience surrogate in the middle of the storm,
but the fact that she remains a strong presence amid the flashier
turns is a tribute to the effectiveness of Ryder's measured,
no-frills work. Despite the many spotlight-stealing moments
afforded to Lisa, Girl, Interrupted is Susanna's story of growth,
and one is able to see her progression through Ryder's nuanced
performance.
Less subtle, however, is the script by Mangold, Lisa Loomer, and
Anna Hamilton Phelan. I think the honest portrait of these
troubled young women makes engrossing enough viewing, but the
writers have decided to manufacture blatantly "movie" situations
for dramatic purposes. It's an understandable decision, but the
mechanics behind such contrived scenes as an angry,
tear-stained climactic confrontation between Susanna and Lisa
are a bit too obvious and distracting to be completely believable.
Yet one does buy into such scenes to a certain degree, again
thanks to the work of the cast and the overall power of the story.
Girl, Interrupted may ultimately be a film, underrealized; but its
desired emotional effect is more than adequately achieved.