Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy

Based on writer Susanna Kaysen's account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the 1960s.

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83% liked it

219,401 ratings

Critics

51% liked it

101 critics

R, 2 hrs. 7 min.

Directed by: James Mangold

Release Date: December 21, 1999

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DVD Release Date: October 30, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (9,778)


  • September 25, 2009
    Has its moments but falls short at the end!
  • March 6, 2009
    "Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy"

    Based on writer Susanna Kaysen's account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the 1960s.

    REVIEW
    If you like character driven plots, then this movie will pull you in. The story is goo...( read more)d, although I could tell that it had been converted from a book. The character developments occasionally make jumps implying that something is missing. However, the skillful writing keeps these discontinuities minor, and they are easily overcome by the incredible acting. I gained new respect for Angelina Jolie as an actress when I saw this movie, and Winona Ryder outshines even Angelina's performance. By the end of the movie, we feel we really know the characters, which is impressive considering how complex and dynamic they are.
  • February 16, 2009
    After attempting suicide a girl ends up in a mental hospital, where is realises she is more normal than the rest of the residents. Movie with Winona as lead but Angelina steals the show with her performance.
  • February 6, 2009
    Winona Ryder definitely does that wide-eyed angsty thing well.
  • January 20, 2009
    ''Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60's. Or maybe I was just a girl... interrupted.''

    Based on writer

    ...( read more)Susanna Kaysen's account of her 18-month stay at a mental hospital in the 1960s.

    Winona Ryder: Susanna Kaysen

    It's always easy to relegate a story or piece of art to a niche in the wall, claiming that it borrows or steals from other sources. In the case of Girl, Interrupted, it's very easy to say "It's a 'Cuckoo's Nest' with females." Looking at things on lower levels, one could argue that every tale steals from all those before. But the truth of the matter is that certain ideas are so fundamental, so classical, that they have applied to us for as long as anybody can remember. If basing a movie on a mental institution and its patients concocts discontent, then basing a movie on love is as much of a sin.

    Girl, Interrupted pleasingly places us in the eyes of Susanna Kaysen(Winona Ryder), a teenage girl who suffers from depression and is signed into the custody of a psychiatric hospital after a failed attempt at suicide. Like most young people who suffer from this state, Susanna is unable to acknowledge the disorder that affects her. Seeing things from a practical point of view--believing in cause and effect--makes it difficult for her to understand what she suffers from when she doesn't understand what caused the condition to begin with.
    Enter Lisa, faultlessly played by Angelina Jolie. Beautiful, savage, defiant, and extremely charismatic, she introduces Susanna to a new line of thought: - it's the world that's screwed up, not them. - The world is afraid of aberrations such as themselves -- people who create a bubble, in the perfect balance of their ideal mindset. Thus, they lock them up in mental institutions, and rejoice once that the problem is taken up by the hands of others after the exchange of a sizable amount of funding.

    Susanna, needless to say, is enthralled by her new friend; Lisa is somebody who knows the inner workings of their world, someone to leech onto. And when one latches onto somebody else in such a way, either individually or in a group, self-expression and individuality are more often than not sacrificed. Susanna, who was once overwhelmed by the number of choices that confronted her in life, is now ecstatic at the simplicity of her new life in the ward, revolting with Lisa against an unfair system, an unfair world.

    ''I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in but you can't. How you hurt yourself on the outside to try to kill the thing on the inside.''

    In my opinion, Mangold's directorial tricks are ones of illusionary truths, ones to be considered successful, such devices as the sound-overlap between present and flashback scenes, and the use of dull, toned-down colours until Ryder's singular moment of revelation(after which the bright, vibrant colours of autumn leaves and clear blue skies fill the screen)practically poke the viewer's shoulder with relentless insistence in their demand to be acknowledged.
    Ryder's reasons for attempting suicide also seem remarkably indecisive – being diagnosed as having a borderline personality disorder is like being told you're nearly late when you're effectively early - she seems to suffer nothing worse than the average teenager, yet displays no characteristics to suggest that she suffers from a fragile mentality(which would at least explain why she breaks down when others wouldn't). Ironically, Ryder never really comes across as a troubled girl, and never really shows any horror or despair at being practically route-marched to the asylum without warning. The hospital itself is the kind of operation that would have bogus asylum seekers faking lunacy to get in. Jolie aside, there are no truly disturbed patients here, just eccentric(which in Hollywood parlance means loveable) characters; there's no despair in this institution, no desperation, no frustration, no boredom, all of which must have been endemic in such places.

    At the heart of this film, however, lies a much more fundamental, classical idea: friendship... -- what causes it? -- how it can invigorate us in the worst of times, and its short and long-term effects on us. With a beautiful poetic grace, the movie states that it's not the duration of a relationship that matters, but who it is that you befriend, and the place that they earn in your heart while it lasts. Every relationship in our life is short-lived like a flicker of a candle, as we're continually moving forward in our journey towards a fulfilled existence, time does not stand still, and the film makes a conscious effort to constantly accentuate this concept, this aspect of mind.

    ''When you don't want to feel... death can seem like a dream. But, seeing death - really seeing it... makes dreaming about it fucking ridiculous.''

  • November 20, 2009
    Angelina Jolie has done the role of her carrer in a emotionally chraged Biopic in which she outstaged Ryder.
  • November 13, 2009
    Questo film va visto assolutamente da adolescenti, la prima volta s'intende, è un po' un must, una regola non scritta.
    Poi va visto quando si è un po' più grandi, con un po' più di testa, perché è davvero bello, fa male, ma deve far male.
  • November 3, 2009
    Amazing and disturbing. One of the best I've ever seen, it was quite creepy in some way.
  • November 2, 2009
    Awesome movie, I found it to be like a true story and I loved it for it rocked and was very very good.
  • November 2, 2009
    En Mexico se llamo: "inocencia interrumpida". Esta dos que tres.

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Although there are individual scenes of powerful acting, there doesn't seem to be a destination. full review

January 1, 2000
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Not even foxy sociopath Angelina Jolie can save this nut-house drama. full review

View more Girl, Interrupted reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Marilynstates
    March 6, 2009
    I really LOVE this movie. My Favorite Movie next to some other ones.

    I think I'm crazy, they thought right too.
  • mutaz19802001
    November 24, 2007
    hi my name mutaz
  • Danmybestmate333
    November 5, 2007
    this movie was great i saw it on More 4
  • MilkThug
    August 1, 2007
    i loved this movie..... ryder and Jolie were GREAT together on screen!
  • goldenarias
    July 18, 2007
    If you guys liked the movie, you should really read the book. The movie is only loosely based on the book, which is a real portrayal of Susanna Kayesen's stay in the same mental facility as Sylvia Plath (but not at the same time.) It's an awesome book and I would recommend everyone to read it if they truly liked the movie.
  • zenepzz
    July 6, 2007
    OOO SOME GOOD AND DONT BAD :)
  • napeaceofmind
    June 14, 2007
    I felt that after watching that being raised in a hostle enviroment all you know is anger when all you really want is to be loved. Realizing that your thoughts aren't necesarially right, other ways to look at things.We can heal from our enviroment to which we where raised. Lora
  • alifreeman7
    March 11, 2007
    a kind of female one flew over the cuckoo's nest.It blew me away the first time i saw it.I knew some girls like that when i was a kid.
  • ilovemovies2007
    February 25, 2007
    good movie
  • chix100
    January 31, 2007
    i thought this was a great movie! angelina jolie delivers a fantastic performance! ryder was great too but i felt angelina took centre stage with her crazyness!

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Girl, Interrupted Trivia


  • In what movie did Angelina Jolie say" Razors pain you, rivers are damp, acid stains you, drugs cause cramps, gun aren't lawful, nooses give, gas smells awful, you might as well live."   Answer »
  • Name the film in which Brittany Murphy plays a crazy girl who keeps chicken carasses under her bed.  Answer »
  • In which movie did Brittany Murphy's character commit suicide?  Answer »
  • Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60's. Or maybe I was just a girl... interrupted.   Answer »

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