Girl, Interrupted (DVD)

Girl, Interrupted is based on the book and real life experiences of Susanna Kaysen in late 1960’s America. Kaysen seemed to be a little bit ‘oddball’ in her peer group, primarily because she did not have a clear cut path to her goals laid out in front of her that fitted society’s norms. She was not planning to go to University after High School, and was the only member of the class in this position. Her goal of wanting to write was not acknowledged by her parents or her lecturers, and after an incident where she takes some aspirin washed down with a bottle of Vodka, she is seen by a psychiatrist friend of her Father’s and forced to sign herself into an institution - ...  Read the complete review

A chick-flick with artistic merit…no, it just doesn’t sound right does it? However, a few rare films fall into this category, the “Virgin Suicides” is perhaps what I would describe is a girly flick in some ways, but then my favourite movie is “Donnie Darko” and not “Bridget Jones’s Diary”. “Girl, Interrupted” is such a film, an intelligent chick flick, a little lighter in heart than many serious movies, and an extremely different story than the book, but it is a truly heart-warming, yet bright, story. Based on (wonderful) “The Bell Jar”-esque book by Susanna Kaysen, which is a ...  Read the complete review

After reading the book Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, i was interested to see whether or not the gripping reality of mental health care in the 1960's could be effectively conveyed on the "big screen". Well, upon watching the film i discovered the film had a lot of differences as well as similarities to the book, however i do not and did not find this off putting. For example, Susanna Kaysen was a patient at McClean Hospital in America, which had treated the likes os Sylvia Plath and Ray Charles. The movie however renames the hospital 'Claymoore' and does not make reference to it's previous clients. The film showcases the talents of the main ...  Read the complete review

Mental illness, a fiercely powerful subject matter, and yet one which has only rarely been explored in the cinema. Most people would quote the phenomenal One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest as being the most memorable portrayal, but for me that film was more about oppression, and the mercilessness of THE SYSTEM - the systematic removal of dignity, self and personality, and its replacement with automata, bent to the will of the powers that be. Now, though, the disturbance of the mind has been adequately explored and exploited, in a thoughtful way, with the disturbing Girl, Interrupted, which many would characterise shallowly as an update of Cuckoo's Nest, ...  Read the complete review

This is one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time, and definitely contains some of the best characters. Winona Ryder plays Susanna Kaysen, a girl whose life has been “interrupted” when she is diagnosed with “Borderline Personality Disorder”, and prescribed a “short rest” in “Claymoore” (a psychiatric institution for mentally ill young girl patients, somewhat reminiscent of the hospital Sylvia Plath writes about being placed in, in “The Bell Jar”). This might put you off somewhat, thinking that this film is “depressing” and going to be a “hard slog”, but you ...  Read the complete review