Girl, Interrupted

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 together mentally, spends most of the film going with the flow, at one moment grateful for the support of her roommate and then the next swept up in Lisa's chaotic whirlwind of destruction, never really offering much to the story other than a set of eyes to view it through. The final act is the explosive conclusion that the film's initial promise deserves, but overall _Girl, Interrupted_ can't shy away from the fact that not a lot really happens over the course of its runtime. Each of the girls are in the institution through no fault of their own, and their personalities are intrinsically linked to their conditions, so it is difficult to follow exactly what their redemption arcs are. Perfectly watchable, especially for Jolie's performance, but by no means a must-see.

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

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 tragedy that really brings things home to her. The ensemble of patients - Clea Duvall, Brittany Murphy and Elizabeth Moss all work well with the sparingly appearing Goldberg and Redgrave to create a really affecting atmosphere here, but it's Jolie who delivers best with a career-defining effort as a creature that it's impossible to like but equally difficult not to feel sympathy for too. It's intensely scripted, occasionally funny and pretty perfectly paced and though not a easy watch, is certainly a powerful one.