Mangold's compositions alternate between intimate and intimidating, judging when to switch very deftly, and the colour scheme beautifully reflects the worn, frayed nature of the protagonists' mental states; the screen is filled with browns and worn yellows, the white surgical robes are dusty, and even the hospital has a tumble-down, faded quality. Like Adrian Brody's character in The Pianist, Suzanna is not so much a hero as a survivor, and while she does break from the other characters by making it out in one piece, she has been irrevocably changed by her experience, for better and for worse. They begin to take effect within seconds. |, June 18, 2002 In fact, what's interesting about the film of Girl, Interrupted - directed and co-scripted by James Mangold - is that it is very interested in the structural problems present within the American system. Neither is her illness ever presented to us as being something that can be easily conquered, whether by positive thinking or taking the right number of pills: it's a painful, long-term anguish which some learn to live with and others tragically cannot face. I said in my review of Wanted that she "always been in her element inhabiting individuals who are in some way damaged, conflicted, morally ambiguous or self-doubting". The memoir reads of the stay a young woman had at the same mental hospital that cared for Sylvia Plath and how she questions everything about herself, her life and her planet. Unable to cope with reality and the difficulty that comes with it, 18 year old Susanna, is admitted to a mental institution in order to overcome her disorder. | Rating: 2/5 Throughout the movie, Lisa gains and loses control over Susanna and we see how bad she really can be. We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future. They won't be able to see your review if you only submit your rating. Sounding like the scribblings from a teenager's diary, the 28-year-old Ryder lapses into self-parody. You're left wishing the film had a little more faith in its audience, for then this well-put-together movie might have provoked more thought, and slightly less irritation. It's one of those you either love it or hate it film. | Rotten (53). Angelina Jolie gives an intense performance, but overall Girl, Interrupted suffers from thin, predictable plotting that fails to capture the power of its source material. A must see. | Rating: 3/4, July 3, 2001 When she gets to Claymoore there are Halloween decorations on the walls and shortly afterwards it's Christmas. Girl, Interrupted Georgina (1999) But I'm a Cheerleader Graham (1999) The Astronaut's Wife Nan (1999) While in other stories Susanna would have run away to join a rock band, or robbed a bank, or sought out spiritual enlightenment (a la Zabriskie Point), her parents lock her away so that they don't have to deal with her problems. Sidney Poitier’s 7 Most Memorable Performances, All Harry Potter Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer. It seems to be particularly the case with female Oscar winners that their careers begin to buckle under this newfound pressure. You're almost there! Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified. This is the major breakthrough that the character experiences, acknowledging her own failures and the shortcomings of the world outside, but realising that the only way out is to learn to deal with it, one day at a time. Both he and Mangold share a love of period detail and a desire to use historical quirks to shed light on character and mood; the drug store with simply 'Drugs' on the shopfront is both an accurate reflection of the setting and a nod to the blunt, unhelpful nature of the treatment. Lisa: No, you were spitting on me, so mellow f***in' out! While Jolie often threatens to steal away the limelight, her performance is equally crucial to prevent the film from just being a collection of loud, angry, mad people about whom we would have no reason to care. | Rating: 4/5 |, December 6, 2005 Just below that it reads "Ticket Confirmation#:" followed by a 10-digit number. Proving that those words should not have been written in her diary, as Daisy had not spoken them yet. | Rating: A It's a gut-wrenchingly honest and powerful moment which goes some way towards cementing this film's greatness. Susanna is rushed to the hospital. These are words spoken by Daisy later on in the film when they are at the ice cream parlour. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. basterdette has uploaded 1109 photos to Flickr. A word of advice, don't point your fucking finger at crazy people! Watching a group of teenagers "tongue their meds" (which does not mean doing something rude with a junior doctor) and sobbing out of windows is boring. The key scene in the film, if not the key line, comes during Lisa's breakdown, when Suzanna declares: "Maybe everybody out there is a liar. Within the first week that Susanna was admitted to the Mental Institution, there is a scene where she is lying on her bed writing in her diary, moments before Lisa sneaks in and scares her. But if someone is rewarded for giving a particular performance or doing something especially well, it creates the pressure to always be that good (or always do that one thing) from thereon in. The same cars are parked in the same places when she enters the mental institution, and leaves a year later. Girl, Interrupted also pulls off another trick, namely being a period piece which still has applications to contemporary society. Keysen herself was displeased with the adaptation, branding the section in which Susanna and Lisa try to escape as "drivel" and criticising the filmakers for "inventing" whole sections which never reflected her story. Polly has been badly scarred by fire. Copyright © Fandango. If that revelation, and that whole scene, had come out of nowhere, then the film would have felt melodramatic, with the characters having to bend to the needs of the plot after an hour or so of character-driven storytelling. And rightly so. It's an odd mixture of an unsentimental, darkly humorous take on mental illness with the usual Hollywood loony-bin cliches. One of the criticisms that was made of Girl, Interrupted when it was released is that it was "melodramatic" - in other words, that Mangold had toned down and smoothed out the book to give the audience some form of closure over the character.