Movie info:
Also known as
Verified yes
Genre−
Rank−
Albums1
Songs10
AboutGirl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film, directed by James Mangold, and an adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's 1993 memoir of the same name. The film chronicles Kaysen's 18-month stay at a mental institution. It received mixed reviews from film critics.
Plot
In April 1967, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen inadvertently checks herself into Claymoore Hospital after taking an overdose of aspirin. She denies the accusation from many that she was attempting to commit suicide, claiming that she was only "trying to make the shit stop". Nurses and therapists are surprised when Susanna acknowledges that she does not actually want to go to college and would like to become a writer.
She befriends fellow patients Polly "Torch" Clark, Georgina Tuskin, Daisy Randone, Janet Webber and Cynthia Crowley and forms a small troupe of troubled women in her ward. Susanna is particularly enchanted by Lisa Rowe, a diagnosed sociopath who easily manipulates the women around her, being gentle or cruel toward them as she sees fit. When Lisa returns to the ward after running away, she notices that her old best friend's place has been taken by Susanna. She demands to know what happened to her best friend, eventually realizing that she had committed suicide. Eventually, Lisa befriends Susanna and the two start causing trouble. Lisa encourages Susanna to stop taking her medications and/or trade them with others, sneak out of their rooms at night and generally resist the influences of therapy.
During a visit outside the ward at a nearby ice cream shop, Susanna is confronted by her mother's friend, the angry wife of her old English teacher, with whom she had an affair, and her daughter. The woman harshly berates Susanna, but Lisa intervenes with a verbal assault, horrifying the older woman. As a result, Lisa loses her outside privileges.
Susanna's former boyfriend, Tobias "Toby" Jacobs, comes to visit her. The two attempt to have sex in her room, but despite Lisa's attempt to delay the routine checks they are interrupted by orderlies and take a walk on the grounds instead. Toby reveals that he is about to be drafted, and invites her to run away to Canada with him. He tries to convince her that she isn't crazy and that the girls in the asylum aren't really her friends, but Susanna refuses to go with him.
It is shown that Polly observes the couple as they speak outside. That night, she awakens screaming. The nurses remove her and place her into solitary confinement to calm her down, but she continues sobbing, horrified by the burn scars all over her body and face. To cheer her up, Susanna steals a guitar from the music room and sits outside Polly's room with Lisa, singing "Downtown" by Petula Clark. Lisa is seen slipping a pill into the mouth of the orderly on watch, who has fallen asleep. When a male orderly notices them, Susanna seduces him to keep him from reporting the incident. Afterwards, the two girls fall asleep outside Polly's room. In the morning, Valerie Owens, the RN, sees the two, exclaims that she is sick of their antics and is referring them to the therapists.
The next morning, Susanna is called into the therapist's office, where she is analyzed once more. Susanna meets the head psychiatrist, Dr. Sonia Wick, and attempts to shut her out with a nasty attitude. In response, Wick decides to take Susanna as her patient. She is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Lisa is also taken to see the doctor but does not return, and Susanna falls into a depression. Frustrated with Susanna's noncompliance, Valerie throws her into a cold bath to wake her and repels Susanna's verbal attack, stating that in spite of her disorder, she is not insane.
Lisa returns in the middle of the night, and she and Susanna break out of Claymoore. They hitch a ride with some hippies, and Susanna kisses Lisa, seemingly happy. They spend the night at the house of the recently released Daisy, whom Lisa antagonizes in her usual fashion. She accuses Daisy of having an incestuous relationship with her father, and mocks her for continuing to cut herself. Although Susanna expresses anger toward Lisa, she is not able to stop her nor does she look for Daisy until the next morning, when she discovers that Daisy has hanged herself. Unfazed by the suicide, Lisa searches Daisy's pocket and takes whatever cash she can find. She puts the money in Susanna's coat and decides that it is time to leave, but a mortified Susanna stays behind to phone an ambulance and subsequently return to the hospital, while Lisa remains at large. Susanna also adopts Daisy's cat, Ruby. In the next few weeks, she begins to cooperate with her doctors and responds to her therapy, expressing her feelings through writing and painting. She is soon scheduled to be released.
At that point, Lisa is caught and returned by the police. Upon learning about Susanna's pending release, Lisa targets Susanna for ridicule and emotional abuse. On her last night at Claymoore, Susanna awakens to discover Lisa in the maze of corridors beneath the ward, reading Susanna's diary to Georgina and Polly, including all of the private thoughts and comments she has made about the other residents. The other girls turn on Susanna, with Georgina verbally threatening to have Susanna killed by her father, who she claims to be head of the CIA, and with Lisa particularly vicious, stating that she has done everything for Susanna, playing the villain so that Susanna could be the good guy. Susanna eventually stands up to Lisa, having believed that her inability to do so is what resulted in Daisy's death. She tells her that Susanna keeps coming back to the hospital because she has nowhere else to go, and that she is "already dead", giving her a brutal and cold observation similar to the way Lisa is toward others. Emotionally wounded, Lisa decides to stab herself with a large hypodermic needle and commit suicide, but Georgina verbally reaches out to her and she stops. Defeated, Lisa suffers a mental breakdown and cries out in anguish, revealing that her sociopathy is possibly false. A scene from the start of the film reveals that the four stayed in the basement until being found by orderlies at daybreak; Polly holding Ruby, Georgina tidying up mess caused by the confrontation, and Lisa resting in Susanna's lap.
Susanna is released the next day. Before she leaves, she visits Lisa who is now strapped down to a bed, telling her that she will get out and that she must come and see her. Although depressed, Lisa is now much more emotionally expressive. As Susanna leaves, she says goodbye to all her friends, giving Polly her adopted cat Ruby and reconciling with Georgina. At the end of the film, Susanna states that by the 1970s, many of her friends had been released, some of them seen and others never heard from again.
Technical
Estonian Title - Katkenud elu
Finnish Title - Vuosi nuoruudestani
French Title - Une vie volée
French Title (Canada) - Jeune fille interrompue
German Title - Durchgeknallt
Italian Title - Ragazze interrotte
Polish Title - Przerwana lekcja muzyki
Slovenian Title - Nore in svobodne
Spanish Title - Inocencia interrumpida
Swedish Title - Stulna år
Turkish Title - Aklım Karıştı
Directed By - James Mangold
Written By - Anna Hamilton Phelan, Lisa Loomer, James Mangold
Executive Producer - Carol Bodie, Winona Ryder
Music By - Mychael Danna
Edited By - Kevin Tent
Release Date - December 21, 1999 (United States)
Running Time - 2 hours 7 minutes
Country - United States
Main cast
Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen
Elisabeth Moss as Polly "Torch" Clark
Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe
Clea DuVall as Georgina Tuskin
Brittany Murphy as Daisy Randone
Jeffrey Tambor as Dr. Melvin Potts
Vanessa Redgrave as Dr. Sonia Wick
Whoopi Goldberg as Valerie Owens
Jared Leto as Tobias "Toby" Jacobs
Angela Bettis as Janet Webber
Jillian Armenante as Cynthia Crowley
Alison Claire as Nurse Gretta
Joanna Kerns as Annette Kaysen
Kurtwood Smith as Dr. Crumble
Plot
In April 1967, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen inadvertently checks herself into Claymoore Hospital after taking an overdose of aspirin. She denies the accusation from many that she was attempting to commit suicide, claiming that she was only "trying to make the shit stop". Nurses and therapists are surprised when Susanna acknowledges that she does not actually want to go to college and would like to become a writer.
She befriends fellow patients Polly "Torch" Clark, Georgina Tuskin, Daisy Randone, Janet Webber and Cynthia Crowley and forms a small troupe of troubled women in her ward. Susanna is particularly enchanted by Lisa Rowe, a diagnosed sociopath who easily manipulates the women around her, being gentle or cruel toward them as she sees fit. When Lisa returns to the ward after running away, she notices that her old best friend's place has been taken by Susanna. She demands to know what happened to her best friend, eventually realizing that she had committed suicide. Eventually, Lisa befriends Susanna and the two start causing trouble. Lisa encourages Susanna to stop taking her medications and/or trade them with others, sneak out of their rooms at night and generally resist the influences of therapy.
During a visit outside the ward at a nearby ice cream shop, Susanna is confronted by her mother's friend, the angry wife of her old English teacher, with whom she had an affair, and her daughter. The woman harshly berates Susanna, but Lisa intervenes with a verbal assault, horrifying the older woman. As a result, Lisa loses her outside privileges.
Susanna's former boyfriend, Tobias "Toby" Jacobs, comes to visit her. The two attempt to have sex in her room, but despite Lisa's attempt to delay the routine checks they are interrupted by orderlies and take a walk on the grounds instead. Toby reveals that he is about to be drafted, and invites her to run away to Canada with him. He tries to convince her that she isn't crazy and that the girls in the asylum aren't really her friends, but Susanna refuses to go with him.
It is shown that Polly observes the couple as they speak outside. That night, she awakens screaming. The nurses remove her and place her into solitary confinement to calm her down, but she continues sobbing, horrified by the burn scars all over her body and face. To cheer her up, Susanna steals a guitar from the music room and sits outside Polly's room with Lisa, singing "Downtown" by Petula Clark. Lisa is seen slipping a pill into the mouth of the orderly on watch, who has fallen asleep. When a male orderly notices them, Susanna seduces him to keep him from reporting the incident. Afterwards, the two girls fall asleep outside Polly's room. In the morning, Valerie Owens, the RN, sees the two, exclaims that she is sick of their antics and is referring them to the therapists.
The next morning, Susanna is called into the therapist's office, where she is analyzed once more. Susanna meets the head psychiatrist, Dr. Sonia Wick, and attempts to shut her out with a nasty attitude. In response, Wick decides to take Susanna as her patient. She is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Lisa is also taken to see the doctor but does not return, and Susanna falls into a depression. Frustrated with Susanna's noncompliance, Valerie throws her into a cold bath to wake her and repels Susanna's verbal attack, stating that in spite of her disorder, she is not insane.
Lisa returns in the middle of the night, and she and Susanna break out of Claymoore. They hitch a ride with some hippies, and Susanna kisses Lisa, seemingly happy. They spend the night at the house of the recently released Daisy, whom Lisa antagonizes in her usual fashion. She accuses Daisy of having an incestuous relationship with her father, and mocks her for continuing to cut herself. Although Susanna expresses anger toward Lisa, she is not able to stop her nor does she look for Daisy until the next morning, when she discovers that Daisy has hanged herself. Unfazed by the suicide, Lisa searches Daisy's pocket and takes whatever cash she can find. She puts the money in Susanna's coat and decides that it is time to leave, but a mortified Susanna stays behind to phone an ambulance and subsequently return to the hospital, while Lisa remains at large. Susanna also adopts Daisy's cat, Ruby. In the next few weeks, she begins to cooperate with her doctors and responds to her therapy, expressing her feelings through writing and painting. She is soon scheduled to be released.
At that point, Lisa is caught and returned by the police. Upon learning about Susanna's pending release, Lisa targets Susanna for ridicule and emotional abuse. On her last night at Claymoore, Susanna awakens to discover Lisa in the maze of corridors beneath the ward, reading Susanna's diary to Georgina and Polly, including all of the private thoughts and comments she has made about the other residents. The other girls turn on Susanna, with Georgina verbally threatening to have Susanna killed by her father, who she claims to be head of the CIA, and with Lisa particularly vicious, stating that she has done everything for Susanna, playing the villain so that Susanna could be the good guy. Susanna eventually stands up to Lisa, having believed that her inability to do so is what resulted in Daisy's death. She tells her that Susanna keeps coming back to the hospital because she has nowhere else to go, and that she is "already dead", giving her a brutal and cold observation similar to the way Lisa is toward others. Emotionally wounded, Lisa decides to stab herself with a large hypodermic needle and commit suicide, but Georgina verbally reaches out to her and she stops. Defeated, Lisa suffers a mental breakdown and cries out in anguish, revealing that her sociopathy is possibly false. A scene from the start of the film reveals that the four stayed in the basement until being found by orderlies at daybreak; Polly holding Ruby, Georgina tidying up mess caused by the confrontation, and Lisa resting in Susanna's lap.
Susanna is released the next day. Before she leaves, she visits Lisa who is now strapped down to a bed, telling her that she will get out and that she must come and see her. Although depressed, Lisa is now much more emotionally expressive. As Susanna leaves, she says goodbye to all her friends, giving Polly her adopted cat Ruby and reconciling with Georgina. At the end of the film, Susanna states that by the 1970s, many of her friends had been released, some of them seen and others never heard from again.
Technical
Estonian Title - Katkenud elu
Finnish Title - Vuosi nuoruudestani
French Title - Une vie volée
French Title (Canada) - Jeune fille interrompue
German Title - Durchgeknallt
Italian Title - Ragazze interrotte
Polish Title - Przerwana lekcja muzyki
Slovenian Title - Nore in svobodne
Spanish Title - Inocencia interrumpida
Swedish Title - Stulna år
Turkish Title - Aklım Karıştı
Directed By - James Mangold
Written By - Anna Hamilton Phelan, Lisa Loomer, James Mangold
Executive Producer - Carol Bodie, Winona Ryder
Music By - Mychael Danna
Edited By - Kevin Tent
Release Date - December 21, 1999 (United States)
Running Time - 2 hours 7 minutes
Country - United States
Main cast
Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen
Elisabeth Moss as Polly "Torch" Clark
Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe
Clea DuVall as Georgina Tuskin
Brittany Murphy as Daisy Randone
Jeffrey Tambor as Dr. Melvin Potts
Vanessa Redgrave as Dr. Sonia Wick
Whoopi Goldberg as Valerie Owens
Jared Leto as Tobias "Toby" Jacobs
Angela Bettis as Janet Webber
Jillian Armenante as Cynthia Crowley
Alison Claire as Nurse Gretta
Joanna Kerns as Annette Kaysen
Kurtwood Smith as Dr. Crumble
Most Popular Songs (More)
Most Popular Albums (More)
Artists you may also like
Pictures (0)
no pictures
Fans (0)
no fans