Movie Review : Girl Interrupted

Recently I watched this movie after seeing Alien Resurrection, starring Winona Ryder, and it urges me to watch this movie again, as it brings good memories.

Anyway, based on a true story, and a novel written by Susanna Kaysen. These are some taglines that appears on the cover.

* "Based on a true story."
* "The crazy thing is, you're not crazy."
* "Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy."

The lead role was played by none other than Winona Ryder herself, then we have Angelina Jolie, who played a sociopath, Lisa Rowe.

Brief plot:

After attempting suicide by swallowing a bottle of aspirin, with vodka, Susanna voluntarily admitted herself to Claymoore Hospital, a mental institution. Of course in the 60's, having admitted to these institutions mean something's very wrong with you..I don't know how to put it, but I guess it's a big deal back then...u know.

And she was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, in other words:

* P - Paranoid ideas
* R - Relationship instability
* A - Angry outbursts, affective instability, abandonment fears
* I - Impulsive behaviour, identity disturbance
* S - Suicidal behaviour
* E - Emptiness

I hope that helps. And she made instant friends with a group of other mentally ill girls, including the group's leader, Lisa Rowe, diagnosed with sociopath. She apparently is the bold one and controls everybody. There are a series of interesting events throughout the movie, and of course one the peak near the end where Susanna confronts Lisa down at the basement is directed very well. It's so emotional!

My own opinions:

A lot of people are drawn to this movie especially by the character Lisa Rowe, played by Angelina Jolie, basically because she's the meanest, craziest, in control of everybody and full of sarcascism. Her character often becomes the more significant one rather than the lead role. And of course her Oscar for Best Supporting Role helps a lot in the promotion.

In my opinion, i can't choose between these two characters, because both of them are my favs. So...all in all, i think both actresses did an excellent job in portraying their own characters.

For example, in Susanna's case, she's not entirely crazy. She's just having doubts within herself, and often having relationship instability. She has a clear vision to become a writer, so that shows her sanity. I guess, her role is pretty difficult to play too because she has to be in between somehow, between craze and sane. The only slight disappoinment is why is she not nominated for this role?

In Lisa's case, she's definitely crazy, so she can do whatever crazy stuffs she wants to without feeling guilty o anything about it. Of course, Angelina did a good job too and i suppose her award is well-deserved in her case.

The movie:

Well written, witty, good scripts, funny and sarcastic moments are evident. It's rather raw too, and the whole setting and casts is very convincing. If you have a chance to see the trailer for this movie, you'd go..." what the hell" AFTER you've watched this movie. Because the trailer makes it look like a chick flick or something like this whole girls kind of movie.

But in reality, the movie is of drama genre. And it definitely has its crazy moments and depressing ones too and moments of truth kinda situations, you get to see these girls fighting their inner self just to be normal again.

So, I give this movie a rating of 4/5. It's definitely GOOD and worth watching. With two great actresses and other supporting casts like Whoopi Goldberg and Brittany Murphy, that's enough.

I havent had the chance to read the original novel, as they say it's quite different from the movie for example the part where Susanna and Lisa's escape which didn't happen in the novel. Either way, I shall be searching for this novel from time to time. It should be a good read.