Elisabeth Moss recently appeared on Kelly Ripa’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast while promoting her new FX series “The Veil” and reflected on the “intimidating” but exhilarating set of James Mangold’s 1999 drama “Girl, Interrupted.” Moss was around 15 years old when she shot the movie and starred as Polly “Torch” Clark, a burn victim who suffers from schizophrenia. The cast was headlined by Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, the latter of whom won an Oscar for her performance. Because of the tension that exists between their two characters, Moss said the film set became naturally divided into two camps.
“There were two kinds of camps. There was the Winona Ryder camp and the Angelina Jolie camp. … Off camera, but based on what was on camera, based on the script,” Moss said. “I was in the Winona Ryder camp. The Angelina Jolie camp was really cool. I was intimidated by the Angelina Jolie camp.
“There were two kinds of camps. There was the Winona Ryder camp and the Angelina Jolie camp. … Off camera, but based on what was on camera, based on the script,” Moss said. “I was in the Winona Ryder camp. The Angelina Jolie camp was really cool. I was intimidated by the Angelina Jolie camp.
- 5/7/2024
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
Clockwise from left: The League (Magnolia Pictures), The Last Rider (Roadside Attractions), Black Ice (Lionsgate)Image: The A.V. Club
It’s Thanksgiving time, so give thanks to Hulu if you’re a fan of sports documentaries because the streaming service is stuffing its library with them. Black Ice is about institutional racism in professional hockey,...
It’s Thanksgiving time, so give thanks to Hulu if you’re a fan of sports documentaries because the streaming service is stuffing its library with them. Black Ice is about institutional racism in professional hockey,...
- 10/27/2023
- by Robert DeSalvo
- avclub.com
1999 is often considered one of the greatest years in Hollywood history. From "The Matrix" to "Fight Club," many films released that year remain important cultural touchstones. The 1990s was also one of the most prolific eras for independent filmmaking; the classics from this decade run the gamut from funny, to tragic, to downright strange. Those three words provide a succinct description of the 1999 classic "Girl, Interrupted," a film that still resonates today, especially with the younger generations of young women.
"Girl, Interrupted" is based on Susanna Kaysen's memoir of the same name, and follows an 18-year-old girl who checks herself into a psychiatric hospital in 1967. While there, Susanna (Winona Ryder) meets a group of eclectic women who make her question where insanity truly lies: inside the mental institution, or outside of its walls? Some of the brightest stars of the late '90s play Susanna's fellow residents, including Angelina Jolie...
"Girl, Interrupted" is based on Susanna Kaysen's memoir of the same name, and follows an 18-year-old girl who checks herself into a psychiatric hospital in 1967. While there, Susanna (Winona Ryder) meets a group of eclectic women who make her question where insanity truly lies: inside the mental institution, or outside of its walls? Some of the brightest stars of the late '90s play Susanna's fellow residents, including Angelina Jolie...
- 5/29/2023
- by Kira Deshler
- Slash Film
There’s a lot going on in this troubled-girl-on-a-journey story, which recalls the late-’90s proliferation of books like Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation and Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted. Brittany Snow’s directing debut doesn’t so much add to that canon as dust it down a bit for a new generation, and its success is mostly attributable to its empathetic star Courtney Eaton — the deserving winner of a SXSW Special Jury Recognition for Performance — whose low-key work anchors a needlessly busy film that never quite settles down.
A lot is packed into the opening salvo, from the moment we see Riley (Eaton) sitting on the curb outside a forbiddingly nondescript building, scrolling through pages and pages of narcissistic Instagram influencers. It will come as no surprise when we find out, shortly after that, that she’s been in for a fairly serious disorder she’ll describe variously as...
A lot is packed into the opening salvo, from the moment we see Riley (Eaton) sitting on the curb outside a forbiddingly nondescript building, scrolling through pages and pages of narcissistic Instagram influencers. It will come as no surprise when we find out, shortly after that, that she’s been in for a fairly serious disorder she’ll describe variously as...
- 3/20/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Angelina Jolie movies list is so loaded it’s hard to pick which is her very best and which are not so cool. My foolproof technique for doing this for any actor is to check what critics and audiences are saying across multiple channels. That’s exactly how I arrived at ranking Angelina Jolie’s movies from best to worst. In the end, you can hardly go wrong with the multiple award winning actress. Even the worst movies on the list feel somewhat watchable because of her graceful and charming personality. There are scarcely a handful of actors that come close to Jolie’s reputation.
This article highlights some of the best and worst movies on the Angelina Jolie movies list.
Angelina Jolie Movies List: Ranked Best to Worst
Source: The Union Journal
Angelina Jolie’s film debut came in 1982 when she featured in Hal Ashby’s “Lookin’ to Get...
This article highlights some of the best and worst movies on the Angelina Jolie movies list.
Angelina Jolie Movies List: Ranked Best to Worst
Source: The Union Journal
Angelina Jolie’s film debut came in 1982 when she featured in Hal Ashby’s “Lookin’ to Get...
- 12/9/2022
- by Dee Gambit
- buddytv.com
Girl, Interrupted is based on Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, which has the same name as the movie. The director of the movie is James Mangold. The film was released in December 1999. Set in the late 1960s, Girl, Interrupted starts with Susanna’s (Winona Ryder) getting into a psychiatric institution. In the movie, we witness how the patients live together in a place like that. The movie couldn’t get the expected appreciation from the critics. However, everybody agreed on one thing: the performances of the cast. Now, let’s take a brief look at their lives. Winona Ryder as Susanna, The Girl Interrupted Even though
The Amazing Cast Of Girl, Interrupted...
The Amazing Cast Of Girl, Interrupted...
- 11/9/2022
- by onurcan
- TVovermind.com
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: "Girl, Interrupted"
Where You Can Stream It: Netflix
The Pitch: Hollywood has never had a problem exploring or exploiting mental illness on screen, but seldom do they ever get it "right," for however you want to interpret what that means. Set in the 1960s on the brink of second-wave feminism, "Girl, Interrupted" is the cinematic adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's memoir of the same name recounting her experiences during her stay...
The post The Daily Stream: The Catharsis of Girl, Interrupted on Bad Mental Health Days appeared first on /Film.
The Movie: "Girl, Interrupted"
Where You Can Stream It: Netflix
The Pitch: Hollywood has never had a problem exploring or exploiting mental illness on screen, but seldom do they ever get it "right," for however you want to interpret what that means. Set in the 1960s on the brink of second-wave feminism, "Girl, Interrupted" is the cinematic adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's memoir of the same name recounting her experiences during her stay...
The post The Daily Stream: The Catharsis of Girl, Interrupted on Bad Mental Health Days appeared first on /Film.
- 2/17/2022
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
We've been celebrating Winona Ryder all week for her 50th birthday
by Matt St Clair
During this pandemic, I’ve thought a lot about the climactic scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999) where Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) is in the tunnels of Claymoore, confronting Lisa (Angelina Jolie) for pressing her buttons and trying to force her to feel the same amount of misery she does. As Susanna contemplates how the overall world is a cruel, inhuman place, she still proclaims, “I’d rather be in it!”
At first glance, that proclamation is confusing. For Susanna, Claymoore and its thick walls are initially an escape from the cruel outside world. But between the specialists surrounding her generalizing what she’s feeling, and Lisa who acts as a confidante before proving that misery loves company, Susanna realizes that Claymoore isn’t entirely different from the world. Ultimately, she decides she’d rather be miserable...
by Matt St Clair
During this pandemic, I’ve thought a lot about the climactic scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999) where Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) is in the tunnels of Claymoore, confronting Lisa (Angelina Jolie) for pressing her buttons and trying to force her to feel the same amount of misery she does. As Susanna contemplates how the overall world is a cruel, inhuman place, she still proclaims, “I’d rather be in it!”
At first glance, that proclamation is confusing. For Susanna, Claymoore and its thick walls are initially an escape from the cruel outside world. But between the specialists surrounding her generalizing what she’s feeling, and Lisa who acts as a confidante before proving that misery loves company, Susanna realizes that Claymoore isn’t entirely different from the world. Ultimately, she decides she’d rather be miserable...
- 10/29/2021
- by Matt St.Clair
- FilmExperience
Four years after the release of her Grammy-winning album “Mental Illness,” Aimee Mann has shared a new single, the stirring, beautiful waltz “Suicide Is Murder,” from her forthcoming 10th solo album “Queens of the Summer Hotel.” The accompanying music video reunites Mann with actor James Urbaniak, who previously starred in the video for Mann’s “Patient Zero” with Bradley Whitford. Watch the “Suicide Is Murder” music video above.
See 2022 Grammy predictions: Album of the Year
Some shots may seem eerily familiar as the video nods to lauded films of the 1960s and 1970s. Rob Hatch-Miller, who co-directed the video with Puloma Basu, took to Twitter to highlight some of their inspirations. The video’s final shot draws on the Oscar-nominated “The Sterile Cuckoo,” which earned bids for Best Actress Liza Minnelli and Best Original Song. The haunting shot of Mann’s female specter walking the halls of a house in...
See 2022 Grammy predictions: Album of the Year
Some shots may seem eerily familiar as the video nods to lauded films of the 1960s and 1970s. Rob Hatch-Miller, who co-directed the video with Puloma Basu, took to Twitter to highlight some of their inspirations. The video’s final shot draws on the Oscar-nominated “The Sterile Cuckoo,” which earned bids for Best Actress Liza Minnelli and Best Original Song. The haunting shot of Mann’s female specter walking the halls of a house in...
- 8/14/2021
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
While we’re all waiting for cinemas to reopen and the world to return to some semblance of normality, eager film fans have been feasting on the numerous treasure of digital downloads to sate their cinematic appetites. Now, thanks to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment this will be a more affordable pursuit thanks to their collection of Watchlist Movies – all of them films you need to see. Promotions like these are great for film fans wanting to catch up with a classic, or to discover something new.
You can catch all these movies and more, available to rent or buy on digital right here.
The offers last until the 10th of May, so there’s plenty of time to choose your favourites. In that spirit here are our picks from the great films on offer.
Ghostbusters
It’s only right that we begin with a classic film from the ’80s, one...
You can catch all these movies and more, available to rent or buy on digital right here.
The offers last until the 10th of May, so there’s plenty of time to choose your favourites. In that spirit here are our picks from the great films on offer.
Ghostbusters
It’s only right that we begin with a classic film from the ’80s, one...
- 4/29/2021
- by Michael Walsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Winona Ryder has had her career ups and downs since she made her film debut at age 15 as a high-schooler who befriends Corey Haim, her bully-targeted classmate, in 1986’s “Lucas.” She reigned as one of the most in-demand film actresses in the ‘90s as she transitioned into more adult roles. Ryder hit an unfortunate speed bump in 2001, after she faced shoplifting charges for stealing $5,500 worth of merchandise from a Saks Fifth Avenue department store. She ended up sentenced to three years of probation, 480 hours of community service and various fines while receiving both psychological and drug counseling.
Ryder took time off from acting between the time of her arrest until 2005, when she appeared in a string of indie films. But her true comeback arrived in J.J. Abrams‘ 2009 “Star Trek” reboot as Spock’s human mother Amanda Grayson. These days, she is best known as single mother Joyce Byers, whose 12-year-old...
Ryder took time off from acting between the time of her arrest until 2005, when she appeared in a string of indie films. But her true comeback arrived in J.J. Abrams‘ 2009 “Star Trek” reboot as Spock’s human mother Amanda Grayson. These days, she is best known as single mother Joyce Byers, whose 12-year-old...
- 10/29/2018
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Call it the Ryderssance. Winona Ryder, beloved It Girl of the ’80s and ’90s, has spent the past three years churning out some of her best work yet, including small screen offerings like “Show Me a Hero” and the Netflix breakout “Stranger Things.” Soon, she’ll return to the big screen with her frequent co-star Keanu Reeves, thanks to the upcoming rom-com “Destination Wedding.” But before that, Ryder will be the subject of a decades-spanning career retrospective at New York’s Quad Cinema, featuring over a dozen of her films, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.
When it comes to putting together his retrospectives, Quad Cinema programmer C. Mason Wells told IndieWire that he tends to look for “someone who hasn’t been highlighted before in this way, and also someone who doesn’t conventionally get that sort of feting. Unfortunately, those type of people who fall...
When it comes to putting together his retrospectives, Quad Cinema programmer C. Mason Wells told IndieWire that he tends to look for “someone who hasn’t been highlighted before in this way, and also someone who doesn’t conventionally get that sort of feting. Unfortunately, those type of people who fall...
- 7/25/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Chloe Catchpole May 4, 2017
How does cinema tackle mental health? Chloe explores a line in Girl, Interrupted that means the world to her.
Girl, Interrupted saw Angelina Jolie scoop her very first Oscar (for Best Supporting Actress) back in 2000 thanks to her seductive portrayal of charismatic yet heartless sociopath Lisa Rowe. Directed by James Mangold (Walk The Line, Logan), this searing psychological drama is an engaging yet loose adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s best-selling 1993 memoir, which documents her intimate struggles as a troubled teenager confined to the volatile hierarchy of psychiatric care during in the 1960s after a botched suicide attempt. The film stars Winona Ryder as promiscuous 'rebel' Kaysen (who also served as executive producer) alongside a host of A-listers including Whoopi Goldberg, Brittany Murphy and Jared Leto.
And it's a film that means an awful lot to me. Its language hit home at a very difficult point in my life.
How does cinema tackle mental health? Chloe explores a line in Girl, Interrupted that means the world to her.
Girl, Interrupted saw Angelina Jolie scoop her very first Oscar (for Best Supporting Actress) back in 2000 thanks to her seductive portrayal of charismatic yet heartless sociopath Lisa Rowe. Directed by James Mangold (Walk The Line, Logan), this searing psychological drama is an engaging yet loose adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s best-selling 1993 memoir, which documents her intimate struggles as a troubled teenager confined to the volatile hierarchy of psychiatric care during in the 1960s after a botched suicide attempt. The film stars Winona Ryder as promiscuous 'rebel' Kaysen (who also served as executive producer) alongside a host of A-listers including Whoopi Goldberg, Brittany Murphy and Jared Leto.
And it's a film that means an awful lot to me. Its language hit home at a very difficult point in my life.
- 5/2/2017
- Den of Geek
Angelina Jolie celebrates her 40th birthday today (June 4), and to mark the occasion here at Digital Spy we've rifled through our DVD collections to pick out our favourite Jolie films.
Remember her breakthrough with Hackers way back in the '90s? How about the ass-kicking turn in Tomb Raider or her soulful performance in A Mighty Heart? Read on to find out our Jolie favourites then have your say on her best big screen roles in the comments below...
Tomb Raider - Matt Hill (Deputy Editor)
With Hackers already spoken for, and Morgan Freeman's ridiculous 'loom of fate' ruining the otherwise rather decent Wanted, Jolie's turn as gaming icon Lara Croft looms largest over her career for me – largest in that it's still somehow seen as a rather huge mistake that she inexplicably recovered from. That reputation is one really worth reassessing, though. Sure, Jolie only narrowly missed out...
Remember her breakthrough with Hackers way back in the '90s? How about the ass-kicking turn in Tomb Raider or her soulful performance in A Mighty Heart? Read on to find out our Jolie favourites then have your say on her best big screen roles in the comments below...
Tomb Raider - Matt Hill (Deputy Editor)
With Hackers already spoken for, and Morgan Freeman's ridiculous 'loom of fate' ruining the otherwise rather decent Wanted, Jolie's turn as gaming icon Lara Croft looms largest over her career for me – largest in that it's still somehow seen as a rather huge mistake that she inexplicably recovered from. That reputation is one really worth reassessing, though. Sure, Jolie only narrowly missed out...
- 6/4/2015
- Digital Spy
It's been more than a decade since the 1990s ended, yet the Internet can't seem to go a day without a reminder of the neon slap bracelets that may have been banned from your school.
Yes, we get it. Times are tough and there's comfort in reflection, but enough is enough.
Below, a final goodbye to the 90s to end the nostalgia once and for all. (We're not kidding. There are 1990 items below.)
1. Scrunchies
2. "The Wild Thornberries"
3. Dawson and Joey
4. "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"
5. Mr. Feeny
7. MTV playing music videos
8. Snick
9. The premiere of "Freaks and Geeks"
10. Levar Burton
11. "Daria"
12. "Arthur"
13. "The Powerpuff Girls"
14. "Smart Guy"
15. Comedy Central globe logo with buildings
16. "The X-Files"
17. Rosie O'Donnell
18. Bill Nye
19. "Dawson's Creek"
20. The Mighty Ducks"
21. "Are You Afraid of the Dark"
22. Cornholio
23. Rachel Green
24. Tim Allen
25. "All That"
26. "Beverly Hills 90210"
27. "Step by Step"
28. "The Ren & Stimpy Show"
29. "The Famous Jett Jackson"
30. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
Yes, we get it. Times are tough and there's comfort in reflection, but enough is enough.
Below, a final goodbye to the 90s to end the nostalgia once and for all. (We're not kidding. There are 1990 items below.)
1. Scrunchies
2. "The Wild Thornberries"
3. Dawson and Joey
4. "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"
5. Mr. Feeny
7. MTV playing music videos
8. Snick
9. The premiere of "Freaks and Geeks"
10. Levar Burton
11. "Daria"
12. "Arthur"
13. "The Powerpuff Girls"
14. "Smart Guy"
15. Comedy Central globe logo with buildings
16. "The X-Files"
17. Rosie O'Donnell
18. Bill Nye
19. "Dawson's Creek"
20. The Mighty Ducks"
21. "Are You Afraid of the Dark"
22. Cornholio
23. Rachel Green
24. Tim Allen
25. "All That"
26. "Beverly Hills 90210"
27. "Step by Step"
28. "The Ren & Stimpy Show"
29. "The Famous Jett Jackson"
30. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
- 7/29/2013
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
While driving through Los Angeles the other day, I saw a large, obnoxious billboard for the upcoming Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz movie Knight and Day (2010). While I had previously seen trailers for the rather awful looking film, I had not noticed, until seeing the billboard, that the film was directed by James Mangold. I asked my wife to confirm what I thought my eyes had seen and she answered with a sad nod. While I haven't seen every one of his films (most notably Walk the Line---I have a predisposition against biopics), I have always found myself unexpectedly pleased with them. I wasn't a huge fan of Susanna Kaysen's book, but Mangold's treatment of Girl, Interrupted (1999), thanks to Angelina Jolie's performance, was surprising. More significantly, I initially had mixed feelings about his more genre specific offerings: Identity (2003) and 3:10 to Yuma (2007). Yet, the casting of both films...
- 6/15/2010
- by Drew Morton
"Girl, Interrupted" is the film version of Susanna Kaysen's memoir of her two-year stay at a private institution in Massachusetts. It is respectful to its source material and contains several vivid (and a few shopworn) performances. But the episodic film never engages the viewer at a gut level. Stars Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie should bring in a considerable female audience, both young and old, but the film isn't likely to become a breakout hit.
"Girl, Interrupted" joins a clutch of Hollywood films including "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," "I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can" and "The Bell Jar" that deal with the recovery of women who suffer breakdowns owing to stress, emotional trauma or drugs. The challenge these films face is treating visually and dramatically what is an intensely cerebral process.
While the breakdown of human mental faculties does represent something of a mystery, clues and solutions seldom emerge in ways that make for fine drama. There are few smoking guns or moments of epiphany. Rather, recovery is a slow process that, in a sense, takes place off-camera.
In 1967, at the height of the counterculture and massive youth rebellion in the United States, 17-year-old Susanna (Ryder) is packed off to a mental institute by her parents for exhibiting personality traits that today would seem almost normal.
She is diagnosed as suffering from a "borderline personality disorder," psychobabble for who knows what. But Susanna herself goes along with the incarceration. Her explanation: "I'm sad and I see things".
There's no doubting the problems suffered by her fellow inmates. Lisa (Jolie) is a seductive and cunning sociopath in and out of the hospital for seven years. Susanna's roommate Georgina (Clea Duvall) is a pathological liar; Polly (Elisabeth Moss), a burn victim who never recovered from the psychological damage; and Daisy (Brittany Murphy), a "daddy's girl" fixated on chicken and laxatives.
The interaction of these characters among themselves and with two psychiatrists -- Jeffrey Tambor and Vanessa Redgrave -- and a wise nurse (Whoopi Goldberg) forms the backbone of the screenplay by director James Mangold, Lisa Loomer and Anna Hamilton Phelan.
"Girl, Interrupted" appears to have two agendas. One is to blame/explain the heroine's mental problems. Much of the blame falls on her rigid middle-class parents and her upbringing. But the film also wants to explain her confusions over goals and values on emotional immaturity and the 1960s Zeitgeist. None of which is particularly compelling or satisfying.
The movie's other agenda concerns a critique of mental institutions themselves. While much has undoubtedly changed since the '60s, many of the charges leveled against such institutions here still apply, particularly the overmedication of patients and the complete control an aloof staff has over an individual when its personnel can determine when a patient is "well enough" to re-enter society.
Jolie is handed a scene-stealing role as the mischievous bad girl who can astutely quote Dorothy Parker one moment, then treat a fellow human being with malevolent cruelty the next. She gets to be flashy, sexy and easily the most interesting and complex person in the film.
Ryder, who exec produces, has taken on the more difficult role as a vulnerable and confused teen who must take baby steps back to normalcy. She does so nicely though, evoking both sympathy and pity.
Redgrave scores in a fairly minor role where her mature warmth comes as a welcome relief in the often cold institution. But what on earth tempted Goldberg to play a motherly nurse again? She can play these roles in her sleep and at times appears to be doing exactly that.
Direction by Mangold ("Cop Land", "Heavy") is steady if unremarkable. Technical credits are good enough that one hails any exterior scene: for the viewer, too, feels imprisoned inside this sad and overwrought world.
GIRL, INTERRUPTED
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Red Wagon Prods. and Konrad Pictures
Producers: Doug Wick, Cathy Konrad
Director: James Mangold
Writers: James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan
Based on the book by: Susanna Kaysen
Executive producers: Carole Bodie, Winona Ryder
Director of photography: Jack Green
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Georgia Kacandes
Costume designer: Arianna Phillips
Editor: Kevin Tent
Color/stereo
Cast:
Susanna: Winona Ryder
Lisa: Angelina Jolie
Georgina: Clea Duvall
Daisy: Brittany Murphy
Polly: Elisabeth Moss
Tobias: Jared Leto
Dr. Wick: Vanessa Redgrave
Dr. Potts: Jeffrey Tambor
Nurse Valerie: Whoopi Goldberg
Running time -- 125 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
"Girl, Interrupted" joins a clutch of Hollywood films including "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," "I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can" and "The Bell Jar" that deal with the recovery of women who suffer breakdowns owing to stress, emotional trauma or drugs. The challenge these films face is treating visually and dramatically what is an intensely cerebral process.
While the breakdown of human mental faculties does represent something of a mystery, clues and solutions seldom emerge in ways that make for fine drama. There are few smoking guns or moments of epiphany. Rather, recovery is a slow process that, in a sense, takes place off-camera.
In 1967, at the height of the counterculture and massive youth rebellion in the United States, 17-year-old Susanna (Ryder) is packed off to a mental institute by her parents for exhibiting personality traits that today would seem almost normal.
She is diagnosed as suffering from a "borderline personality disorder," psychobabble for who knows what. But Susanna herself goes along with the incarceration. Her explanation: "I'm sad and I see things".
There's no doubting the problems suffered by her fellow inmates. Lisa (Jolie) is a seductive and cunning sociopath in and out of the hospital for seven years. Susanna's roommate Georgina (Clea Duvall) is a pathological liar; Polly (Elisabeth Moss), a burn victim who never recovered from the psychological damage; and Daisy (Brittany Murphy), a "daddy's girl" fixated on chicken and laxatives.
The interaction of these characters among themselves and with two psychiatrists -- Jeffrey Tambor and Vanessa Redgrave -- and a wise nurse (Whoopi Goldberg) forms the backbone of the screenplay by director James Mangold, Lisa Loomer and Anna Hamilton Phelan.
"Girl, Interrupted" appears to have two agendas. One is to blame/explain the heroine's mental problems. Much of the blame falls on her rigid middle-class parents and her upbringing. But the film also wants to explain her confusions over goals and values on emotional immaturity and the 1960s Zeitgeist. None of which is particularly compelling or satisfying.
The movie's other agenda concerns a critique of mental institutions themselves. While much has undoubtedly changed since the '60s, many of the charges leveled against such institutions here still apply, particularly the overmedication of patients and the complete control an aloof staff has over an individual when its personnel can determine when a patient is "well enough" to re-enter society.
Jolie is handed a scene-stealing role as the mischievous bad girl who can astutely quote Dorothy Parker one moment, then treat a fellow human being with malevolent cruelty the next. She gets to be flashy, sexy and easily the most interesting and complex person in the film.
Ryder, who exec produces, has taken on the more difficult role as a vulnerable and confused teen who must take baby steps back to normalcy. She does so nicely though, evoking both sympathy and pity.
Redgrave scores in a fairly minor role where her mature warmth comes as a welcome relief in the often cold institution. But what on earth tempted Goldberg to play a motherly nurse again? She can play these roles in her sleep and at times appears to be doing exactly that.
Direction by Mangold ("Cop Land", "Heavy") is steady if unremarkable. Technical credits are good enough that one hails any exterior scene: for the viewer, too, feels imprisoned inside this sad and overwrought world.
GIRL, INTERRUPTED
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Red Wagon Prods. and Konrad Pictures
Producers: Doug Wick, Cathy Konrad
Director: James Mangold
Writers: James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan
Based on the book by: Susanna Kaysen
Executive producers: Carole Bodie, Winona Ryder
Director of photography: Jack Green
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Georgia Kacandes
Costume designer: Arianna Phillips
Editor: Kevin Tent
Color/stereo
Cast:
Susanna: Winona Ryder
Lisa: Angelina Jolie
Georgina: Clea Duvall
Daisy: Brittany Murphy
Polly: Elisabeth Moss
Tobias: Jared Leto
Dr. Wick: Vanessa Redgrave
Dr. Potts: Jeffrey Tambor
Nurse Valerie: Whoopi Goldberg
Running time -- 125 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/10/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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