Girl, Interrupted (film)

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This article is about the 1999 film. For the memoir the film is based on, see Girl, Interrupted..

Girl, Interrupted

Directed by	James Mangold
Produced by	Carol Bodie, Winona Ryder
Written by	Susanna Kaysen (book) James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan (screenplay)
Starring	Winona Ryder Angelina Jolie Clea Duvall Whoopi Goldberg Brittany Murphy Jeffrey Tambor Vanessa Redgrave
Music by	Mychael Danna
Editing by	Kevin Tent
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	December 21, 1999 (limited)
Running time	127 min.
Language	English
Budget	$24,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Girl, Interrupted is a film that was adapted from the original memoir Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. The film was directed by James Mangold and stars Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.

1 Plot summary
2 Controversy
3 Academy Awards
4 Awards
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Susanna Kaysen, eighteen years old in April of 1967, voluntarily checks herself into the fictitious Claymoore Hospital (based on McLean Hospital, the actual institution featured in the memoir), after an attempted suicide. Kaysen is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and her stay extends two years.

She befriends fellow patients Polly Clark (Elisabeth Moss), Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie), Georgina Tuskin (Clea DuVall), Daisy Randone (Brittany Murphy) and others, and forms a small troupe of troubled women in her ward. Susanna is enchanted in particular by the unruly Lisa, who encourages her to stop taking her medications and generally resist the influences of therapy.

Lisa and Susanna break out of Claymoore with the intention of going to work in Disney World. They spend the night at the house of the recently released Daisy, who kills herself the next morning after Lisa antagonizes her. Lisa runs away, while Susanna calls the police and returns to the hospital.

Lisa eventually returns after overdosing on drugs and develops a vendetta against Susanna. She threatens to kill Susanna, but in the process Susanna launches a fiery verbal attack upon her, and Lisa undergoes a mental breakdown. Susanna is released the next day.

At the end of the film, Susanna states that by the 1970s, most of her friends were released.

The film was shot at various locations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, especially Harrisburg State Hospital in settings meant to resemble those of the grounds of McLean. ^[1]

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Controversy

Many mental health professionals were critical of the film, stating that Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder had made mental illness look fun and sexy.^{[citation needed]} The author, Susanna Kaysen, was among the detractors of the film, angered by the "melodramatic drivel" Mangold used with the script by conjuring up many stories that never happened in the book (such as Lisa and Susanna running away together). ^[2] Also, the sympathetic nurse character played by Whoopi Goldberg embodies the magical negro stereotype.^{[citation needed]}

Film supporters claimed that it represented the suppression that women and mental patients suffered during that era, and that all changes were made in order to make the story more viable onscreen.

[edit] Academy Awards

Won - Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Angelina Jolie

[edit] Awards

Golden Globe Award
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Angelina Jolie
Screen Actors Guild Award
- Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Angelina Jolie