Girl, Interrupted

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Girl, Interrupted: Friday January  14, 2000

Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she spends nearly a year on the ward both flirting and struggling with the thin line between normal and crazy. Kaysen soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she's been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong on the inside-like the seductive and dangerous Lisa (Jolie)-or the often difficult world of reality on the outside. -- Đ 1999 Columbia Tristar Interactive

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For Peoples Review of Interrupted Girl Scroll Down The Page

Score:

Reviewers

Ebert UsaToday Mr Showbiz Herald Average
Points 87.5 50 45 75 64.38

 

Film-o-Meter

64.38 - Go See At Matinee

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Rating System:

0 - 40 points

Not Worth Seeing
40 - 65 points  Go See At Matinee
65- 85 points Worth Seeing
85-100 points Definitely worth seeing. "A must see!"
 

Director

James Mangold 

Writer

Susanna Kaysen (book) 
James Mangold 

Genre

Drama

Starring:

Winona Ryder as  Susanna Kaysen 
Angelina Jolie as Lisa 
Whoopi Goldberg  as Nurse Valerie

Running Time

2hr 

Rating

Rated R for strong language and content relating to drugs, sexuality and suicide. 

Distributor

Columbia Pictures

Trailer

Real Player

Website

Official Site

Book

Get the Book paperback

Get the Book audio cassette

 

 

 

 The People's Review of Girl, Interrupted

Jim
score = 100
comments = Great study of the inner depths of one's brain. Makes you aware of those people who are locked up out of sight as a solution...not to their problems but to the problems they create for those actually throwing them into 'care'. Great acting...particularly Angelina. Winona is great as ever. Brilliant soundtrack too particularly the 'Glass Orchestra' music that was so creative yet uncanny! This movie got me wondering what is so different between those with mental problems and us. At times it feels like they've got the wrong people locked up. Actually...I'd go so far as to say that although most of them had issues...they were no different to anyone else. We all have our issues..its just how we deal with them that might make us appear as being crazy. But then again...who is to decide what or who is crazy. If you have not seen this movie...its a must!! Take care of yourselves -  Jim Zammit

Erin 
score = 90 
This movie was brutally honest about all the feelings and situations in life that people try to pretend do not exist.

mina 
score = 100 
Girl, Interrupted is my favorite movie because it allows the viewer to visit somewhere deep inside themselves that is rarely expressed. It allows one to question their own sanity and reaches a darker more personal view of life, but brings in a darkly comical view point.

Unknown25
score = 100 
Since i saw this movie it has been my favorite. Angelina Jolie portrayed the part of Lisa to a "T". She is a great actress and this movie is the best I have seen in along time! I was more sad about it when I found out it was a true story:(

Keane 
score = 100 
1000!!! You din'nt have a high enough number so I had to change it. Angelina is a beautiful soul!!! We will all remember her in 100 years as though it were today!! Film criticism is 100% opinion, and coming from Chicago,,, yes we had those two guys!!,, I don't really care what critics have to say. Girl Interrupted is a masterpiece that James Mangold should be very proud of. All actors involved were great. All of them!! This movie has inspired me to finish my own art DV. This movie was not only    visually beautiful,but well written,and very well acted by the ladies. Mangold's ability to film the incredible nuances of Angie's emotions enraptured me. I love this movie like "East of Eden". If anyone wants to see the start of genius... rent the movie "Hacker's" and watch Angie go!!! Let's all wish her lot's of luck with Billy Bob. Bye!

Sara 
score = 100 
Awesome movie - a must see!  If you have ever battled with depression, see this movie!

Jo 
score = 100 
This was a really good movie that a lot of people can relate to, but maybe not admit.  It made me think, what determines a person's sanity (or insanity)?  A good movie, a well written book, and an awesome soundtrack :)

Maytag 
score = 100 
This was a hilarious and heart piercing film. Great performances from Ryder, Jolie and the rest. Ryder is a particular surprise - excellent subtle masterful and moving. A great old fashioned film but at the same time, quite modern.

Julia 
score = 70 
This movie definitely delves into the relativity of the word sanity. It was intriguing to view the way a girl of impressionable years could be manipulated into a care-less and egotistical institutional system, believing herself to fit in with the girls who lived there.  Where were the girls parents throughout the process of her recovery?  They were shown to be so "barely involved" that it's no wonder she so enjoyed the sisterly companionship of the mental institution. The Nurse hit it right on the head when she said,"your a lazy, self-indulgent little girl". I think perhaps it took the shock of seeing what mental illness really is about to bring Susanna to the realization that she doesn't want to go there after all. A great movie that I would watch again.

Chris 
score = 80 
A wonderfully done film even if their hair never changed.  Acting was superb.  One thing that bothered me was that the movie suggests that all we have to do to improve our mental problems is want to get better.  Medicines and such don't help, you just have to want to improve and you'll be better.  Abnormal psych is often seen with physiological problems, the last thing I am going to do is tell an asmatic (sp) not to use their inhaler, just to try harder not to get an attack.

Michelle 
score = 100
comments = This movie was excellent.  Yes, to those who think it is depressing, you are right.  That is the whole point.  Life can be depressing, but to overcome life one must overcome themselves.  Winona's character didn't think there was anything wrong with her.  Everyone else was crazy.  The mental institution was Hell, and she didn't deserve to be there.  All the employees there knew how to mess them (the patients) up even more, and therefore they were stuck there for their parents money to be sucked out of their pockets by the bloodsucking psychiatrists.  Yes, this is very true for many mental institutions, but what she learned from Valerie is that if you want to succeed, you must play a game.  Work the system.  It was the only way to survive the place, and the only way to get out.  She allowed Lisa(Jolie) to manipulate her and feed on her fear of her.  She had to learn how to overcome her, by using Lisa's own techniques to hurt others against her.  The way Lisa manipulated others was by telling them everything that was wrong with them, and she was very good.  Very smart.  She was in the hospital because she was her own prisoner, as all the women in the hospital.  All of us build up our own walls, whether it be something we think we can't do, or not knowing what option to choose, etc... Winona believed she was normal, but she soon came to find out she really did have serious problems, she was not crazy...none of them were...they had very deep inner struggles that no one else can understand unless they've been through it.  They are intelligent people who are just scared for whatever reasons that effected them earlier in life.  Most of the girls did learn to work the system by exchanging meds, going down to go bowling, breaking in and reading their files, and denying them.  They learned to help others like when they sang "Downtown."  These are not crazy qualities.  Most people in real life institutions are not crazy.  Only the ones who are cold, stone cold, who are completely beyond overcoming themselv! es.  Serial killers.  The movie also portrays all the hardships women in the 60's had to endure.  Melvin would rape some of them, Daisy being his love.  He only hurt her and caused more damage to her mind.  All the factors in her life lead up to the final climax, her committing suicide.  She was weak because she couldn't overcome her problems, people around her would weaken her more and more, the more they hurt her.  The last straw was Lisa.  Lisa figured out everything.  Yes Ms. Rose Preston, it is a sad movie, and it does make one have sympathy, but you have failed to look deeper into it.  This movie wasn't about the "devastation we feel when the demons of darkness dwell in us "  and it wasn't created to influence others to have compassion.  Open your mind, get past the shallow water, get a little deeper (I'm talking to everyone who reads this far :) ) there are so many messages hidden in this movie even I can't catch them all.  I know it goes deeper than whatever I have mentioned, but I am able to see the underlying message, I do not consider it a movie that, in Ms. Preston's view, "fails to stir."   For it has stirred me more than most movies I have ever seen.  It ranks with Braveheart, and What Dreams May Come, and Amistad.  I know that the movie made reference to "the world" and its coldness and how it is better to be in the world than destroying oneself and spending time with those doing the same.  I will have to see the movie again to get more of an understanding and catch the deeper meanings hidden in the script. This movie shows that mental patients arent crazy, they just can't overcome themselves.  It shows the struggles of life but how Susanna overcomes herself, Lisa, and the system.  She had to overcome herself first.  It is about all the struggles and depressions in life, but most importantly it is about overcoming them, and helping others do the same.  Ending up on top.  Looking past the veils. Uncovering mysteries.  I ask everyone to open their minds and hearts to everyone, and anything that may seem crazy, or weird, or strange, etc.  You may find it with a much deeper meaning.  The reason most people cant understand this is because of their own inner struggles and shallow thoughts.  Use this movie to inspire yourself to overcome your own inner struggles, because we all have them, if we deny them we are just like the girls in the mental institution.  Maybe we all are anyway, their struggles are just much deeper cuts than our own.  Much deeper.

Andy 
score = 70 
In regards to many of the above comments, some mental patients really are crazy.  Sure, some aren't and are institutionalized for the wrong reasons, but most are there because they need help.  To succeed, they do need to want to get better, but that isn't enough.  The solution may be psychotherapy or medication or often both depending on the situation.  Borderline personality disorder is a pervasive illness that can never be cured.  One can learn to function in the world, but they will never be over it just as someone with mental retardation will never get over it.  I thought the movie was rather shallow with stabs at depth, but failed to have a true understanding of human nature and an even worse understanding of basic abnormal psychology.

Ksenija 
score = 90 
It seems thet hollywood is running out of ideas.Every other film is based on a book.Nevertheless this is an excellent movie.

Aimee 
score = 90 
I thought the movie was very interesting for the reason I know how it feels.  I think the movie is definetly worth seeing.

Samantha Curtis 
score = 100 
Girl Interrupted is the best movie that I have ever seen.  Angelina Jolie's performance was also the best that I have seen in my life.  She is a great actress and I think she deserves more credit.  I can't wait till June 6th when the video comes out.

Eva 
score = 100 
Girl, interrupted is was one of the best movies that I have ever seen. Before seeing this film I didnīt know that Winona Ryder is such an excellent actress!Angelina Jolie is also great.The theme of the film is also very good because few films tell about things like mental illness.

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