GIRL, INTERRUPTED (1999)

Upon its release in 1999, Girl, Interrupted, James Mangold’s drama adapted from the memoir of the same name by Susanna Kaysen, was met with mixed reviews, some of which were downright scathing. About half of these negative reviews criticised the film for not having much of a plot. Roughly the other half of the critical consensus took the view that it imposes the clichés and typical dramatic structures of mainstream Hollywood filmmaking onto what could only ever have been a plotless story. Recent assessments from film lovers have been far more positive, though Girl, Interrupted is perhaps a prime example of why high Letterboxd ratings for movies should not always be trusted (a fairly large proportion of the five-star reviews are endless variations of the likes of: ‘Angelina Jolie could waterboard my dog and I’d thank her’). Much attention here is placed on a very mild kiss and a very attractive Angelina Jolie, where the actual movie becomes incidental in some of these reviews.

As for the film’s critical consensus, the truth’s somewhere in the middle between these polarising responses. Girl, Interrupted is episodic and absorbing, a glimpse beneath the covers of everyday society to a world where a group of teenage girls and young women all defy the social conventions of normality, and where living in close quarters with one another creates as much harmony as there is conflict. As we view this world through the eyes of Susanna (Winona Ryder), a teen who attempts suicide not long after graduating from high school, the psychiatric hospital she’s coerced into staying in is highly disturbing yet oddly endearing, sometimes appearing more compassionate than the world outside the girls’ barred windows and locked doors. While the film’s melodrama does border on being trite at times, particularly in its final stages, much of its development is genuinely interesting without feeling bogged down by Hollywood tropes.

Though one quickly suspects that Susanna isn’t nearly as in need of in-patient care as the other girls here, she’s clearly struggling, experiencing time jumps that allow for some impressively fluid transitions between scenes, subverting viewers’ expectations of chronology to mirror this protagonist’s state of disarray with time itself. This is the perfect cover for the film to incorporate continued flashbacks into the narrative, which intercut the present-day story and give viewers the chance to learn more about Susanna’s life before she admitted herself into Claymoore, Girl, Interrupted‘s psychiatric hospital. Although these scenes are quite illuminating, they only briefly sketch Susanna’s life and mindset before being abruptly ripped out of the narrative. Internal and external problems are introduced for Susanna to contend with—or fail to contend with—but that’s about it; we never get any further than the surface level.

From there, the flashback scenes disappear without feeling as if they were building up towards a definitive moment that would make viewers stop thinking another one was coming. I kept waiting for more insights into Susanna’s life, and it took some adjustment into the movie’s abruptly single-minded focus on the present day to realise that its forays into Susanna’s recent past had, out of nowhere, themselves become a thing of Girl, Interrupted‘s recent past.

Set just over three decades before it was made, this film’s references to the 1960s are abundant, and while they aren’t as explicit as the kinds of nudges, nods and winks that references in movies like Forrest Gump (1994) are inserted for, these hallmarks of that era fall in line with a bizarre trend in many period piece films, which think of their settings as never-ending kitsch reference points instead of a time when people were simply human. If the characters don’t have much interest in the fact that they live in the ’60s, why should the audience?

Despite some negative contemporaneous reviews that insist on the contrary, Ryder is impressive in this leading role. She isn’t quite believable as a just-graduated high schooler, but most high school students in movies look like they’re well into their working lives. Outside of this, Susanna is compelling, with this protagonist’s relative normalcy making her an effective conduit through which viewers can assess the chaos around her. But it’s Lisa (Angelina Jolie), a rebellious and seemingly institutionalised sociopath, who is easily the most enticing character, drawing in viewers with the same ease that she endears the other girls to her. She’s portrayed brilliantly by Jolie, who’s at her best when she is studying others, viewing them not as equals or even human beings, but as animals to exploit. Watching her watch the others is akin to being given a perfect view of a hunt between a predator and its prey. Even if the end results are only biting insults and cruel one-liners, Lisa’s ability to psychologically disarm and torture the other girls is fascinating.

Though she might like to see herself this way, Lisa doesn’t really conform to the villain role, which is necessary in a film of this kind. Girl, Interrupted might not always be subtle or illuminating with what it wants to say about madness or normalcy, but it’s very impressive how the movie consistently draws its humanity out of these characters instead of turning them into objects for the viewer to ascribe hate or pity onto. Some characters are more hateable or pitiable than others, that is certain, but they are all easy to care about.

That’s not to say that they are necessarily complex. While Girl, Interrupted never dawdles or meanders, it’s quite remarkable that after two hours spent with these characters, often in a small location where they are all forced to contend with one another, some of them have said hardly anything at all. When Susanna’s new roommate Georgina (Clea DuVall) tells her an elaborate backstory about one of the other patients, only to let this protagonist know just a few moments later that she has been committed for being a pathological liar, the reveal is genuinely eerie. It’s just one of the clever ways that this story pits Susanna against her cohabitants, only for her to find something to like about all of them as time goes on.

But what exactly does she learn about Georgina? There’s a blandly sappy scene where they share a warm look as Susanna’s roommate cries while watching The Wizard of Oz (1939). So she likes that fictional universe. Great. But what else? What room is the character given to spout enough dialogue of any substance for viewers to witness her compulsion in effect? It’s as if Georgina’s entire reason for being here is forgotten about once it is stated. It’s a shame, too, since DuVall is excellent at portraying this character as if she’s the embodiment of innocence itself. But if she is a compulsive liar, are there performative elements to her niceness? Or is she a truly good person who struggles to rein in these impulses? There’s a noticeably large void where answers to these questions should rest.

Tobias (Jared Leto), Susanna’s ex-boyfriend, appears for one or two scenes and is somehow treated as if he’s of any importance in her life (or this story). The brief introduction to his character is hurried, just like everything else about this dynamic. As for Susanna’s other love interest John (Travis Fine), a kind orderly, that brief relationship is chucked into the narrative out of nowhere, and, as with Tobias, quickly forgotten about.

While Girl, Interrupted is well-told visually, its scriptwriting leaves a lot to be desired. It is often remarkably incurious about its characters, which is a real shame given how brilliantly it creates a back-and-forth dance of unease and camaraderie amongst these girls. In group settings, their interactions feel rich, even if quite a few members of the group are left underdeveloped.

The film’s greatest strength, though, is its acting. I’ve already mentioned Ryder and Jolie’s keen portrayals—particularly the latter—but the late, great Brittany Murphy provides the standout performance. As Daisy, a sexually abused girl with an eating disorder and chronic OCD, she effortlessly conveys Daisy’s practiced calmness and deeply unnerving unease that always threatens to rise to the surface. When it does, the character flies off the handle, screaming at or insulting anyone nearby, before quickly deferring to a prim and proper attitude once more, speaking plainly and looking to defuse the situation. In retrospect, it is easy to see how she is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, barely maintaining her composure in the face of what she’s been forced to endure.

It’s difficult to discuss Girl, Interrupted in detail and not compare it to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), especially when events surrounding Daisy are suspiciously reminiscent of Miloš Forman’s classic movie. (Though one could argue that Mangold’s film is a distinctly unique creation given that it was adapted from a memoir, Kaysen’s book does not feature a number of the film’s most dramatic moments, some of which have close parallels with Forman’s movie. In fact, this caused the author to denounce Girl, Interrupted for devolving into a clichéd, overly melodramatic story that was disanalogous to the lived experiences that shaped her memoir.)

In many ways, it would seem that Girl, Interrupted is a female-centric take on that film, with both movies focusing on a single-sex wing of a psychiatric hospital. In some respects, Girl, Interrupted holds its own when compared to the classic film, with Susanna making for an excellent conduit for the viewer given her unimposing physicality, demeanour, and attitude. When one witnesses and hears all the actions and dialogue in this facility that one expects from ‘crazy’ people, it is easy to feel fear for this protagonist, which was never really the case at the start of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In both cases, the sense of community that is forged between the protagonists and the other patients is fascinating to watch unfold.

But as Girl, Interrupted‘s melodramatic qualities increase in scope, focus, and frequency, not only does it start to wear this influence a little too obviously, the movie is downright uninspired at points. The few instances of Ryder’s voiceover narration never work, whether it’s an opening scene whose sole purpose seems to revolve around stating the movie’s title in its first minute, or the very bland ‘feel good’ montage where viewers are told, rather than adequately shown, Susanna’s changing mindset. (The order of these events, particularly with regards to the harrowing moment clearly inspired by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, doesn’t work at all.)

The last 20-minutes of Girl, Interrupted are particularly weak, with lots of shouting and crying that never rings true, as well as character transformations that are poorly depicted and totally unearned. The authentic spirit of camaraderie this film had championed is sadly trampled on in these sappy, melodramatic, and sentimental sequences, with the movie’s worst instance of voiceover narration arriving to top it all off. Not only does Ryder’s voiceover blandly sum up the entire movie and make an unbelievably stilted attempt at emotional resonance, the narration (and the scene preceding it) completely declaws this story, removing all of its tragic elements for a contrived attempt at a happy ending. It’s not just an incurious conclusion to this journey, but a cowardly one that cannot bring itself to admit the obvious about how many of these young women will turn out. It also has the unintended side effect of making Susanna seem like a profoundly bad writer, with no illuminating points made whatsoever in this disappointing attempt at wistfulness.

Still, even if its ending sours the experience somewhat, Girl, Interrupted is a compelling drama that (generally) balances tragedy and optimism well. Though it always seemed fairly obvious that Susanna was never supposed to be in an institution of this kind, the film does raise valid questions about whether or not the other girls needed to be locked up, or whether they only felt they needed it. And, maybe most crucially, it asks if there is even an important distinction between the two, defying easy answers. While a significant part of this complex question and its vaguely unknowable answer come down to a lack of developed characterisation for many of the side characters, on the whole, Girl, Interrupted is a simultaneously hellish and uplifting take on madness, womanhood, societal norms, and what it means to be content with life and oneself.

USA • GERMANY | 1999 | 127 MINUTES | 1.85:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: James Mangold.
writers: James Mangold, Lisa Loomer & Anna Hamilton Phelan (based on the memoir by Susanna Kaysen).
starring: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss, Jared Leto, Jeffrey Tambor, Vanessa Redgrave & Whoopi Goldberg.