On the surface, Girl, Interrupted is a man's dream: a group of wild 20-something girls having a never-ending pajama session. "Have you ever mistaken a fantasy with life?" Susanna, the film's heroine and narrator, asks early on. And sure you don't make the same mistake. Despite an upbeat trailer that seems to touch on every joke in the film, Girl, Interrupted is a real downer of a drama.
The film opens with a shot of prison-like bars that gradually pans to several children. This sets the tone for a movie set in a psychiatric hospital where the main character is the building itself, rather than a patient, nurse, or doctor. Susanna (Winona Ryder, in a competent but unremarkable performance) is persuaded to check herself into Claymoore for a brief respite. She is quickly diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and she finds herself staying for longer than she would like.
Georgina (Clea Duvall), Susanna's roommate, is a sweet pathological liar. Georgina is one of the most intriguing girls in the female-dominated film, even though the film doesn't go into great detail about her, which would be well worth the extra time. She is pretty, is polite, and seems to be completely harmless. Although she is in a mental hospital, you find yourself contemplating everything she does and, in the end, asking if she is insane, as you do with many characters.
Lisa (Angelina Jolie) has an outspoken character dominated by her escapes from a mental hospital described as "a five-star hotel" by one nurse (Whoopi Goldberg, reprising her traditional role as the nurturing mother figure). Lisa seems to be a one-dimensional psychotic, but you get the impression there's more to her than meets the eye.
Other patients include:
- A spoiled girl who has sex with her father in return for rotisserie chicken.
- A burn survivor with a profile akin to Mel Gibson's in The Guy Without a Face.
- A slew of overly sweet nurses.
The plot is based on Susanna Kaysen's best-selling novel of the same name. The film deviates from Kaysen's book in a minor way. Susanna finds herself in a creepy scene that she is just told about in the novel for obvious dramatic reasons. A companion cat is also used to describe and humanize some of the characters. Susanna's life is just disrupted for a year here, as opposed to two years in the novel.
The film is set when Vietnam drafts, VW buses, RFK, MLK, and Woodstock were all familiar. A grade-A soundtrack features songs like Bookends, Downtown, Time Has Come Today, and The Weight, all of which are symbolic of the period.
Girl, Interrupted is a film that sits on its own. A sturdy atmosphere, interesting characters, and the tunes mentioned above make the film well worth your time—if you can take a PJ party seriously, that is.