Girl, Interrupted

Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen’s prescribed “short rest” from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice’s Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.
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Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

  • Susanna Kaysen: Winona Ryder
  • Lisa Rowe: Angelina Jolie
  • Daisy Randone: Brittany Murphy
  • Georgina Tuskin: Clea DuVall
  • Polly Clark: Elisabeth Moss
  • Valerie Owens: Whoopi Goldberg
  • Dr. Wick: Vanessa Redgrave
  • Toby: Jared Leto
  • Dr. Melvin Potts: Jeffrey Tambor
  • Nurse John: Travis Fine
  • Janet Webber: Angela Bettis
  • Cynthia Crowley: Jillian Armenante
  • M.G.: Drucie McDaniel
  • Nurse Margie: Christina Myers
  • Barbara Gilcrest: Mary Kay Place
  • Bonnie Gilcrest: KaDee Strickland
  • Tony: Misha Collins
  • Dr. Crumble: Kurtwood Smith
  • Cabby Monty Hoover: David Scott Taylor
  • Annette: Joanna Kerns
  • ER Nurse: Janet Greer
  • Dance Therapist: Anne Lewis
  • Tiffany: Katie Rimmer

Film Crew:

  • Director of Photography: Jack Green
  • Director: James Mangold
  • Producer: Cathy Konrad
  • Casting: Lisa Beach
  • Producer: Douglas Wick
  • Executive Producer: Winona Ryder
  • Co-Producer: Georgia Kacandes
  • Original Music Composer: Mychael Danna
  • Still Photographer: Suzanne Tenner
  • Production Design: Richard Hoover
  • Sound Effects Editor: George H. Anderson
  • Set Designer: Patrick M. Sullivan
  • Editor: Kevin Tent
  • Associate Producer: Susanna Kaysen
  • Screenplay: Lisa Loomer
  • Screenplay: Anna Hamilton Phelan
  • Costume Design: Arianne Phillips
  • Hairstylist: Kathrine Gordon
  • Art Direction: Jeff Knipp
  • Hair Department Head: Kathe Swanson
  • Set Decoration: Maggie Martin
  • Assistant Costume Designer: Trish Summerville
  • Dialogue Editor: Hugo Weng
  • Makeup Artist: Janeen Schreyer
  • Makeup Artist: Jane Galli
  • Makeup Artist: Linda Grimes
  • Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Jeffrey J. Haboush
  • Camera Operator: David Luckenbach
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Ralph Maiers
  • Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Bill W. Benton
  • Leadman: David C. Potter
  • Supervising Sound Editor: Howell Gibbens
  • Music Editor: Thomas Milano
  • Dialogue Editor: Michael J. Benavente
  • Unit Publicist: Joe Everett
  • Makeup Department Head: Carol Schwartz
  • Hairstylist: Julia L. Walker
  • Key Hair Stylist: Milton Buras
  • Script Supervisor: Ronit Ravich-Boss
  • Hairstylist: Gunnar Swanson
  • Hairstylist: Emanuel Millar
  • Stunt Coordinator: Jennifer Lamb
  • Color Timer: Dennis McNeill
  • Executive Producer: Carol Bodie
  • Boom Operator: David Diamond
  • Set Designer: Mary Finn
  • Makeup Artist: Diane Maurno

Movie Reviews:

  • wizzardss: Back in the late 1990s, when it was announced that Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir _Girl, Interrupted_ would be turned into a movie, many actresses were reportedly fighting to join the cast that included a number of strong female leads.

    In the end, Winona Ryder was chosen to play Susanna Kaysen, a teenage girl who overdoses on aspirin and is admitted to psychiatric hospital. While in the 1960s institution, she meets and befriends many of the other patients, including sociopath Lisa (Angelina Jolie) and schizophrenic Polly (Elisabeth Moss), and nurses including Valerie (Whoopi Goldberg).

    It is difficult to believe that at the release of _Girl, Interrupted_ Angeline Jolie was barely starting in her acting career. This was a time before Tomb Raider, and even further before Changeling and Mr and Mrs Smith. Rather, Jolie had a handful of acting credits and one notable film (Gia). So, it is perhaps with huge credit that she was picked to handle such a complex character as Lisa.

    And it is Lisa who really keeps _Girl, Interrupted_ moving forward, earning Jolie a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress – her only Academy Award to date.

    Susanna, while the protagonist and perhaps more together mentally, spends most of the film going with the flow, at one moment grateful for the support of her roommate and then the next swept up in Lisa’s chaotic whirlwind of destruction, never really offering much to the story other than a set of eyes to view it through.

    The final act is the explosive conclusion that the film’s initial promise deserves, but overall _Girl, Interrupted_ can’t shy away from the fact that not a lot really happens over the course of its runtime.

    Each of the girls are in the institution through no fault of their own, and their personalities are intrinsically linked to their conditions, so it is difficult to follow exactly what their redemption arcs are.

    Perfectly watchable, especially for Jolie’s performance, but by no means a must-see.

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