Girl, Interrupted is as disturbing and lingering in the brain as an overdose of Valium, but the even better news is that it has so much more going for it than that. It is actually one of the only movies I don't totally hate that is set in a mental hospital and set around mental health patients, their friendships, failures, phobias and disorders.
It's disappointing, because the setting of a mental health facility - present day, or 50 years ago - is brimming with potential, in every facet of film. The character dynamics, score, and camera work all can be explored in unique ways due to the fact that the environment is full of broken mental states and larger-than-life personalities and stories. Hollywood smelled the opportunities from miles away long ago, and must have decided after releasing the amazing One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 that mental health movies should instead be full of cliched and unrealistic nonsense that borders on disrespect and ignorance. The most recent criminal has been John Carpenter's The Ward, which was more than just an awful film - it was an awful film about a mental hospital. It failed in every way that Cuckoo's Nest and Girl, Interrupted have succeeded.
Based on the nonfiction book by Susanna Kaysen, the movie follows Susanna's downward emotional spiral that eventually ends up with a borderline personality disorder diagnosis and 18 months in a mental health facility. During her stay she becomes close friends with each inhabitant of the ward - in particular, a fragile young burn victim, a rotisserie-chicken eating sad case (Britney Murphy is fantastic), a pathological liar (Clea DuVall), and Lisa (Angelina Jolie), a hyper-psychotic blonde with a sharp tongue and not a care in the world what people think of her or the havoc she brings to herself and others around her. It is Susanna's relationship with pseudo-leader Lisa that is the cause of Susanna's every high point and low point during the troubled 18-month period of her life.
Some people debate whether Jolie deserved the Oscar she received for her performance in this film; I find myself thinking that she absolutely deserved it, but not without mentioning that she managed to merge herself so seamlessly with the insecurity and recklessness of Lisa due only to the equally incredible performances surrounding her. This is one of Winona Ryder's better films, and one of Britney Murphy's most shining moments. Whoopi Goldberg is a surprising strong point in the film, whose character resembles nothing of "Nurse Ratchet". The writing is engaging, focused, and realistic. The moments of sorrow and anger are cocooned well within the moments of laughter and hilarity, sharing with the audience the roller-coaster ride of emotions that come with living among - and being - mentally ill. Girl, Interrupted offers up one story out of thousands - a girl who lived, wanted to die, cried, laughed, drank, smoked, broke rules, took medication, and healed from it all.
*Available to watch instantly on Netflix*
(img sources = isky.co.nz/flickr.com)
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