Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.
Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.
- Suicide or self-harm
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Character
Earnest, classical in form, grave and intimate.
- earnestironic
- classical in formformally daring
- gravecomic
- intimateepic
- contemplativerelentless
Who loves it, who doesn't
28 profiled raters. Loved most by The Comfort Seekers; disliked most by The Archivists.
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“Would Girl, Interrupted hit harder if it came out today rather than in 1999?”
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Answered from what people have written, never made up: a verdict, how much when it's a matter of degree, and the sentences that say so, quoted with their names. Reviews here first, then TMDB's reviews and the title's Wikipedia plot and reception. If nothing settles it, you can put it to the curators.
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Curator Co.'s numbers.
- wizzardsson TMDB · Feb 20216/10
Back in the late 1990s, when it was announced that Susanna Kaysen's 1993 memoir _Girl, Interrupted_ would be turned into a movie, many actresses were reportedly fighting to join the cast that included a number of strong female leads. In the end, Winona Ryder was chosen to play Susanna Kaysen, a teenage girl who overdoses on aspirin and is admitted to psychiatric hospital. While in the 1960s institution, she meets and befriends many of the other patients, including sociopath Lisa (Angelina Jolie) and schizophrenic Polly (Elisabeth Moss), and nurses including Valerie (Whoopi Goldberg). It is difficult to believe that at the release of _Girl, Interrupted_ Angeline Jolie was barely starting in her acting career. This was a time before Tomb Raider, and even further before Changeling and Mr and Mrs Smith. Rather, Jolie had a handful of acting credits and one notable film (Gia). So, it is perhaps with huge credit that she was picked to handle such a complex character as Lisa. And it is Lisa who really keeps _Girl, Interrupted_ moving forward, earning Jolie a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress - her only Academy Award to date. Susanna, while the protagonist and perhaps more to
Read the whole review on TMDB - Andre Wilfred Sanderson TMDB · Jul 20238/10
Sometimes you see them as crazy or mentally ill, but they are the cure that keeps you from going crazy if you love them. The movie touched my feelings when I realized that we were the disease that penetrated their bodies and made these angels crazy
Read the whole review on TMDB - CinemaSerfon TMDB · Apr 20247/10
Winona Ryder is on great form here in this rather brutally frank look at a girl struggling with mental health issues. "Susanna" had been rushed to hospital by her worried parents after an apparent attempt at suicide. Diagnosed with a potential personality disorder, she is admitted to the "Claymoore" facility under the care of "Dr. Wick" (Vanessa Redgrave) and nurse "Valerie" (Whoopi Goldberg). As you'd expect, this place has a multitude of characters inside and she (and we) are introduced to a mixture ranging from the pathological liar to the anorexic, the sociopath to the schizophrenic. Some are friendlier to her, others ignore her altogether. It's "Lisa" (Angelina Jolie) whom she seems to relate to her best. She is a controlling character who swings between munificence and malevolence at the drop of an hat whilst giving the staff a constant stream of headaches. On the outside, her recently drafted boyfriend "Tobias" (Jared Leto) is trying to coax her to return to the outside world, but she seems to thrive on the institutionalised nature of her new life, addicted to it even. Gradually, though she begins to appreciate that "Lisa" is a toxic influence on her life - evidenced by a tr
Read the whole review on TMDB
Cast
- Winona RyderSusanna
- Angelina JolieLisa
- Clea DuVallGeorgina
- Brittany MurphyDaisy
- Elisabeth MossPolly
- Jared LetoTobias Jacobs
- Jeffrey TamborDr. Potts
- Vanessa RedgraveDr. Wick
- Whoopi GoldbergValerie
- Angela BettisJanet
Crew
- James MangoldDirector
- Anna Hamilton PhelanScreenplay
- James MangoldScreenplay
- Lisa LoomerScreenplay
- Susanna KaysenNovel
- Jack N. GreenDirector of Photography
- Mychael DannaOriginal Music Composer
- Kevin TentEditor
- Cathy KonradProducer
- Douglas WickProducer
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