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Actors: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Girl, Interrupted |
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Suzanna is an emotionally conflicted young woman. Her suicide attempt with pills and alcohol lands her in a facility for disturbed youth. While there, Suzanna meets a mesmerizing wild child named Lisa. Together, the two run away and attend a party where Lisa engages in casual sex with a stranger. Later, they visit a friend named Daisy, who was mistakenly released from the mental facility as a result of her father's financial pull.
Daisy is emotionally fragile and desperately insecure. She agrees to let Suzanna and Lisa spend the night at her place even though Lisa berates Daisy. In the morning Suzanna discovers Daisy dead in the bathroom. Daisy was pushed over the edge by Lisa's cruelty, and so hung herself.
Suzanna calls the cops and Lisa flees, later to be caught and returned to the facility in a nearly catatonic state. Suzanna is sad for Lisa. Suzanna tries to maintain a friendship but Lisa turns on her by luring her down to the basement and violently attacking her. Suzanna stands up to Lisa by rallying the other girls in her own defense. Lisa backs down and Suzanna decides to pursue her own treatment more seriously.
--Jennifer, Resident Scholar
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This movie is based on a book written by Susanna Kaysen. The movie stars Winona Ryder as Sussanna Kaysen, a woman searching for the meaning of her life and the struggles she goes through to find it in a mental hospital. Along the way she befriends Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie), a woman who is an obsessive, manipulative woman. They develop a deep and dangerous relationship. Ultimately it was breaking free from lisa that Susanna finally finds her way and copes with her diagnoses of borderline personality disorder.
--Bobby Blades, Resident Scholar
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Girl, Interrupted is a film based on the book by Susanna Kaysen, Set in a famous 'Mental' hospital of the '60's where "The Bell Jar's" author Sylvia Plath also resided and documented that stay. Susanna(Winona Ryder) attempts to comit suicide by 'chasing sleeping pills with half a bottle of vodka'and gets 'urged' into the hospital for one year. During her stay she sinks into a life of what it would be like to be crazy, but 'the crazy thing is, she's not crazy'. She rebels against the nurses (main= Goldberg) and the psychiatrists (main= Redgrave)and becomes 'one of the girls', she becomes especially close and fond of Lisa (Jolie) an alluring and intense sociopath.There are many exiting and shocking scenes (as you can imagine from the basic structure) but i won't wreck it for you! Eventually (and slightly disapointingly- I wanted there bizarre adventures to go on for ever)Susanna faces up to her problems and herself. She leaves behind her friends and returns to the world and a sense of reality. All acting in this movie was amazing especially Jolie whom, in my opinion, has never acted so well. She won an oscar for best supporting actress in 2000. The film has so many top notch scenes , when the girls sing 'Downtown'to Polly is very emotional, the ice-cream parlour scene is hilarious and the scene where the girls steal susanna's diary and chase her is frightening. An ideal combination to please everybody. (One of my favourites of all time)
--Mimi Mac, Resident Scholar
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Susanna is diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder and checked into a mental institution. There, she struggles with the dilemma of remaining in the sheltered environment of the hospital, or of reclaiming her life and going back into the world with all of its flaws.
--Sharon, Resident Scholar
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Susanna Kaisen gets admitted to a well-known psychiatric hospital in the '60's for trying to commit suicide. She meets lots of new friends, including Lisa, a sociopath who has tried to escape numerous times. During her time in the hospital, she gains friendships with these girls and learns a little about herself. Based on the autobiographical book by Kaisen.
--Diane, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Girl, Interrupted |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Struggle with
- eccentricity
- (General) search for meaning/identity
Brain/Body not working?
- mental illness
Battle with shrink/bum?
- battle with a psychiatrist
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (woman) short/butch/lez
Body type
- (woman) skinny
Unclothed?
- Slightly see-through clothes
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn straight
Body type
- (woman) very skinny
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Eccentric:
Yes
- mentally ill
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 80%
Hair color
- blonde
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- Boston
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
- explicit references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- thoughtful
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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