Girl, Interrupted movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS GIRL, INTERRUPTED A POWERFUL ANC COMPELLING LOOK AT THE INSIDES OF A MENTAL WARD?
Based on the book written by Susanna Kaysen, this film is actually nothing too compelling or powerful. It’s well-acted and finely-made, but not that interesting.
Storyline
The recount of author Susanna Kaysen’s 18-month stay in a mental hospital after she attempted suicide in the 1960s.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: James Mangold
Cast: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss, Jared Leto, Jeffrey Tambor, Vanessa Redgrave, Whoopi Goldberg
Writer: James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan
Release Date (Australia): 20 January 2000
Runtime: 127 minutes/2h 7m
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
The film contains strong suicide and mental health themes.
The film contains a brief depiction of the corpse and cut wrists of a character who has committed suicide.
There is use of the word “f**k” throughout the film.
The film contains verbal references to drugs and depictions of characters smoking marijuana.
There is a distant depiction of a nude man with no nudity detail.
There are crude verbal references to sexual acts throughout the film.
mpaa rating
R (for strong language and content relating to drugs, sexuality and suicide)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie give worthy performances in a satisfactory drama that feels like it’s trying to be the unneeded female version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but it’s neither powerful or poignant. This plain drama with nothing more interesting than character personalities is basically just a recount of author Susanna Kaysen’s 18-month stay in a mental hospital, and without disregarding her or anyone else’s tough experiences in life, this movie makes for all the clichés and problems in mentally-themed drama movies.
To where the credit is due, each of the characters within the mental institution in this film are completely well-written and you can really see that they each have their own interesting story, even without it being shown. There’s a lot of bonding moments and great laughs throughout the film. Winona Ryder stars as Susanna Kaysen, whom the film revolves around, and Angelina Jolie as a sociopathic supporting character. The problem with the characters is the fact that Ryder’s character is too average to be centred around and Jolie’s character is WAY more interesting, which makes the film feel very plain and uninspired.
When the main character isn’t interesting to watch, it can also make sitting through this film quite boring at times, despite decent performances and the character study it’s focused on. It feels very much like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, except all the serious aspects feel a lot less realistic and don’t pack any power. As a result, Girl, Interrupted is just too simple and basic to offer anything truly memorable, and it’s nothing better if you’ve seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
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