Girl, Interrupted (film)

Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film, and an adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's 1993 memoir of the same name. The film chronicles Kaysen's 18-month stay at a mental institution. Directed by James Mangold, the film stars Winona Ryder (who also served as an executive producer on the film) as Kaysen, with a supporting cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave.

Girl, Interrupted was released on December 21, 1999. Despite having received mixed reviews from film critics, Jolie received considerable praise for her performance and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Plot  ==Plot[ edit] == In April 1967, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) inadvertently checks herself into Claymoore Hospital after taking an overdose of aspirin. She denies the accusation from many that she was attempting to commit suicide, claiming that she was only "trying to make the shit stop." Nurses and therapists are surprised when Susanna acknowledges that she does not actually want to go to college and would like to become a writer.
 * 2 Cast
 * 3 Production
 * 4 Filming
 * 5 Reception
 * 5.1 Critical response
 * 5.2 Author opinion
 * 6 Accolades
 * 7 Soundtrack
 * 8 References
 * 9 External links

She befriends fellow patients Polly "Torch" Clark (Elisabeth Moss), Georgina Tuskin (Clea DuVall), Daisy Randone (Brittany Murphy), Janet Webber (Angela Bettis), and Cynthia Crowley (Jillian Armenante) and forms a small troupe of troubled women in her ward. Susanna is particularly enchanted by Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie), a diagnosed sociopathwho easily manipulates the women around her, being gentle or cruel toward them as she sees fit. When Lisa returns to the ward after running away, she notices that her old best friend's place has been taken by Susanna. She demands to know what happened to her best friend, eventually realizing that she had committed suicide. Eventually, Lisa befriends Susanna and the two start causing trouble. Lisa encourages Susanna to stop taking her medications and/or trade them with others, sneak out of their rooms at night and generally resist the influences of therapy.

During a visit outside the ward at a nearby ice cream shop, Susanna is confronted by her mother's friend, the angry wife of her old English teacher, with whom she had an affair, and her daughter. The woman harshly berates Susanna, but Lisa intervenes with a verbal assault, horrifying the older woman. As a result, Lisa loses her outside privileges.

Susanna's former boyfriend, Tobias "Toby" Jacobs (Jared Leto), comes to visit her. The two attempt to have sex in her room, but despite Lisa's attempt to delay the routine checks they are interrupted by orderlies and take a walk on the grounds instead. Toby reveals that he is about to be drafted, and invites her to run away to Canada with him. He tries to convince her that she isn't crazy and that the girls in the asylum aren't really her friends, but Susanna refuses to go with him.

It is shown that Polly observes the couple as they speak outside. That night, she awakens screaming. The nurses remove her and place her into solitary confinement to calm her down, but she continues sobbing, horrified by the burn scars all over her body and face. To cheer her up, Susanna steals a guitar from the music room and sits outside Polly's room with Lisa, singing "Downtown" by Petula Clark. Lisa is seen slipping a pill into the mouth of the orderly on watch, who has fallen asleep. When a male orderly notices them, Susanna seduces him to keep him from reporting the incident. Afterwards, the two girls fall asleep outside Polly's room. In the morning, Valerie Owens, the RN (Whoopi Goldberg) sees the two, exclaims that she is sick of their antics and is referring them to the therapists.

The next morning, Susanna is called into the therapist's office, where she is analyzed once more. Susanna meets the head psychiatrist, Dr. Sonia Wick (Vanessa Redgrave), and attempts to shut her out with a nasty attitude. In response, Wick decides to take Susanna as her patient. She is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Lisa is also taken to see the doctor but does not return, and Susanna falls into a depression. Frustrated with Susanna's noncompliance, Valerie throws her into a cold bath to wake her and repels Susanna's verbal attack, stating that in spite of her disorder, she is not crazy, just a "lazy, self-indulgent little girl who is driving herself crazy".

Lisa returns in the middle of the night, and she and Susanna break out of Claymoore. They hitch a ride with some hippies, and Susanna kisses Lisa, seemingly happy. They spend the night at the house of the recently released Daisy, whom Lisa antagonizes in her usual fashion. She accuses Daisy of having an incestuous relationship with her father, and mocks her for continuing to cut herself. Although Susanna expresses anger toward Lisa, she is not able to stop her nor does she look for Daisy until the next morning, when she discovers that Daisy has hanged herself. Unfazed by the suicide, Lisa searches Daisy's pocket and takes whatever cash she can find. She puts the money in Susanna's coat and decides that it is time to leave, but a mortified Susanna stays behind to phone an ambulance and subsequently return to the hospital, while Lisa remains at large. Susanna also adopts Daisy's cat, Ruby. In the next few weeks, she begins to cooperate with her doctors and responds to her therapy, expressing her feelings through writing and painting. She is soon scheduled to be released.

At that point, Lisa is caught and returned by the police. Upon learning about Susanna's pending release, Lisa targets Susanna for ridicule and emotional abuse. On her last night at Claymoore, Susanna awakens to discover Lisa in the maze of corridors beneath the ward, reading Susanna's diary to Georgina and Polly, including all of the private thoughts and comments she has made about the other residents. The other girls turn on Susanna, with Georgina verbally threatening to have Susanna killed by her father, who she claims to be head of the CIA, and with Lisa particularly vicious, stating that she has done everything for Susanna, playing the villain so that Susanna could be the good guy. Susanna eventually stands up to Lisa, having believed that her inability to do so is what resulted in Daisy's death. Susanna tells her that Lisa keeps coming back to the hospital because she has nowhere else to go, and that she is "already dead", giving her a brutal and cold observation similar to the way Lisa is toward others. Emotionally wounded, Lisa decides to stab herself with a large hypodermic needle and attempts to commit suicide, but Georgina verbally reaches out to her and she stops. Defeated, Lisa suffers a mental breakdown and cries out in anguish, revealing that her sociopathy is possibly false. A scene from the start of the film reveals that the four stayed in the basement until being found by orderlies at daybreak; Polly holding Ruby, Georgina tidying up mess caused by the confrontation, and Lisa resting in Susanna's lap.

Susanna is released the next day. Before she leaves, she visits Lisa, who is now strapped down to a bed, telling her that she will get out and that she must come and see her. Although depressed, Lisa is now much more emotionally expressive. As Susanna leaves, she says goodbye to all her friends, giving Polly her adopted cat Ruby and reconciling with Georgina. At the end of the film, Susanna states that by the 1970s, many of her friends had been released, some of them seen and others never heard from again. ==Cast<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Production<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In a 2000 Charlie Rose interview, Ryder revealed her strong passion to produce the film, indicating that it took seven years to get to the screen. After reading the book, Ryder immediately tried to secure the rights; however, a week earlier they had been purchased by Douglas Wick. Ryder then decided to team up with Wick along with her manager Carol Bodie, who acted as executive producer along with Ryder. Ryder also stated that she tried hard to persuade James Mangold to direct the film, who was reluctant at first. She states that Mangold was the right man for the role as director after she saw his directorial debut Heavy, which explored similar themes to Girl, Interrupted.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;font-size:11.1999998092651px;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] ==Filming<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Filming took place along Main Street in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, as well as in Harrisburg State Hospital in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Mechanicsburg was chosen for its old fashioned appearance and its old style drug store simply titled "Drugs", all of which gave the film its time-dated appearance. A shot seen in the trailer shows the van traveling towards downtown Harrisburg over the State Street Bridge, where the Capitol building is clearly visible.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[2]  Deleted scenes were also filmed atReading's Public Museum. ==Reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Critical response<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film received mixed reviews upon release, however Angelina Jolie's performance received much praise from critics. Girl Interrupted currently holds a rating of 54% on Rotten Tomatoes,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[3]  and a rating of 51 on Metacritic,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[4]  indicating largely mixed reviews from critics.
 * Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen, the protagonist. She is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
 * Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe, diagnosed as a sociopath. She is charismatic, manipulative, rebellious and abusive. Over her eight years at the institute she has escaped several times, but is always caught and brought back eventually. She is looked up to by other patients in the ward.
 * Brittany Murphy as Daisy Randone, a sexually abused girl with bulimia and OCD who cuts herself. She keeps the carcasses of the cooked chicken that her father brings her in her room.
 * Clea DuVall as Georgina Tuskin, a pathological liar. She is Susanna's roommate.
 * Elisabeth Moss as Polly "Torch" Clark, a burn victim. She is childlike and easily upset.
 * Angela Bettis as Janet Webber, an anorexic. Like Lisa she is abrasive and seemingly aloof, but is also easily irritated or upset.
 * Jillian Armenante as Cynthia Crowley. She claims that she is a sociopath like Lisa, but Lisa denies this claim and states that she is a "dyke." She is easily amused.
 * Travis Fine as John, an orderly with a liking for Susanna.
 * Jeffrey Tambor as Dr. Melvin Potts
 * Jared Leto as Tobias "Toby" Jacobs
 * Vanessa Redgrave as Dr. Sonia Wick
 * Whoopi Goldberg as Valerie Owens, RN
 * Bruce Altman as Professor Gilcrest
 * Mary Kay Place as Barbara Gilcrest
 * KaDee Strickland as Bonnie Gilcrest
 * Ray Baker as Carl Kaysen
 * Kurtwood Smith as Dr. Crumble
 * Alison Claire as Nurse Gretta
 * Joanna Kerns as Annette Kaysen
 * Misha Collins as Tony
 * Larry Graeff as Grounds Keeper

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Stephen Holden in The New York Times wrote; "Girl, Interrupted is a small, intense period piece with a hardheaded tough-love attitude toward lazy, self-indulgent little girls flirting with madness: You can drive yourself crazy, or you can get over it. The choice is yours."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Tom Coates from the BBC wrote; "Girl, Interrupted is a decent adaptation of her memoir of this period, neatened up and polished for an audience more familiar with gloss than grit."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6] ===Author opinion<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The author, Susanna Kaysen, was among the detractors of the film, accusing Mangold of adding "melodramatic drivel" to the story by inventing plot points that never happened in the book (such as Lisa and Susanna running away together).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7] ==Accolades<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Soundtrack<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Academy Award
 * Best Actress in a Supporting Role — Angelina Jolie
 * Golden Globe Award
 * Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture — Angelina Jolie
 * Screen Actors Guild Award
 * Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role — Angelina Jolie
 * Teen Choice Awards
 * Choice Movie: Drama
 * 1) The Doors performing "Roadhouse Blues"
 * 2) Merrilee Rush performing "Angel of the Morning"
 * 3) Petula Clark performing "Downtown"
 * 4) Skeeter Davis performing "The End of the World"
 * 5) Aretha Franklin performing "Night Time Is the Right Time"
 * 6) Jefferson Airplane performing "Comin' Back to Me"
 * 7) Them performing "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
 * 8) The Chambers Brothers performing "Time Has Come Today'"
 * 9) The Band performing "The Weight"
 * 10) The Mamas & the Papas performing "Got a Feeling"
 * 11) Wilco performing "How to Fight Loneliness"
 * 12) Simon & Garfunkel performing "Bookends Theme"