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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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"Girl,
Interrupted"
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Reviewed
by: |
Sondra
Rosenberg |
| Genre: |
Drama |
| Video: |
Anamorphic
1.85:1 Widescreen |
| Audio: |
5.1
(Dolby Digital), 2-Channel (Dolby Surround and Isolated Music
Score |
| Language: |
English
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| Subtitle: |
English
|
| Length: |
127
min. |
| Rating: |
R
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| Release
Date: |
June
6th, 2000 |
| Studio: |
Columbia-Tristar |
| Commentary:
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Director's
Commentary |
| Documentaries:
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None |
| Featurettes:
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HBO
First Look: The Making of "Girl, Interrupted" |
| Filmography/Biography:
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Talent
Files |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Trailers for "Girl, Interrupted," Ryder films "Bram Stoker's
Dracula" and "Little Women" and Jolie's "Foxfire" |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Deleted
Scenes with Commentary |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
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Production
Notes |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Wynona Ryder,
Angelina Jolie, Clea Duvall, Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss,
Jared Leto, Jeffrey Tambor, Vanessa Redgrave and Whoopi Goldberg
|
| Screenplay
by: |
Written by:
James Mangold, Lisa Loomer and Anna Hamilton Phelan, based on
the book by Susanna Kaysen |
| Produced
by: |
Douglas Wick and Cathy
Konrad |
| Directed
By: |
James Mangold
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| Music: |
Mychael Danna |
| The
Review: |
James
Mangold's adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's autobiographical book
"Girl, Interrupted" is a touching, if flawed, film about a young
woman struggling with her identity. Ryder, in the role of Kaysen,
finds herself in a mental hospital after attempting suicide.
There she meets a host of memorable characters including Lisa
(played to the hilt by Angelina Jolie), an alluring but cold-hearted
sociopath, the anorexic Janet, Georgina, a pathological liar
obsessed with the Wizard of Oz, Polly, labled Torch because
she set her face on fire when she was 10 and is covered with
scar tissue, and my personal favorite, Daisy, in an amazing
performance from Brittany Murphy. As I see it, the main problem
with this film is that it does not delve deeply enough into
Susanna's pathology. While the lesser character's psyches are
explored more thoroughly, we are left not really understanding
why Susanna was so unstable to begin with. Ryder does an admirable
job in the role, but ultimately is not able to embody the more
interesting Kaysen of the book. Jolie, on the other hand, inhabits
the character of Lisa effortlessly. She is vital and expressive
every second she is on camera - a performance which earned her
both a Golden Globe and an Acadamy Award. The movie itself emphasizes
Susanna's journey and the coming together of all of these characters.
Despite Mangold's use of certain movie cliches such as the recovery
montage sequence, his film seems real on an emotional level.
I really appreciated the interesting editing choices too and
the way time and memory were dealt with. This is a film that
I think a lot of people, though predominantly middle class women,
can relate to. |
| Image
and Sound |
The picture
quality of this dvd is excellent. Color is used in very effective
ways to evoke the essence of the time (taking place in the 60s),
the changing seasons and the multi-faceted mood of the hospital
itself. Sound quality is also top notch, and many will enjoy
the nostolgic soundtrack which features songs by Bob Dylan,
the Doors, the Band, Jefferson Airplane, and more. |
| The
Extras |
"HBO First
Look: The Making of 'Girl, Interrupted'" features interviews
with stars Wynona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and
director James Mangold, producer Douglas Wick and author of
the book "Girl, Interrupted," Susanna Kaysen. Most of the featurette,
however, consists of lengthy clips from the film. While kind
of fun to watch for big fans of the movie and/or actresses,
there is nothing much here to add to the meaning of the film.
Angelina Jolie and James Mangold contribute some insight to
the characters, but mostly "First Look" functions as a forum
where cast and crew members gush about one another and talk
about how brilliantly they managed to adapt Kaysen's seemingly
unadaptable book. The author's supportive comments were particularly
suspect given her public trashing of the film subsequent to
its release. The deleted scenes (available with director's commentary)
were a bit more interesting. Here we see more of Susanna's mental
breakdown prior to her Claymoore commitment, including a creepy
scene in which she envisions blood pouring out of a meat tray
at the supermarket a la "The Shining." We also see a fine adaptation
of the scene in the book where Kaysen describes her reaction
to a Vermeer painting entitled "Girl, Interrupted At Her Music"
from which her own title was culled. |
| Commentary |
The director's
commentary track is far richer than the featurette. Mangold
discusses a host of topics including his choices in adapting
the book, his influences, some of the cinematic techniques he
employs, and his ideas about the different characters. Mangold
expresses his ideas clearly and tells relevant stories. One
point he makes that I found provocative was that when we first
see the girls in the hospital, they seem very scary and totally
insane, but that as the movie progresses and we get to know
them, we begin to see them as people who are more or less like
everybody else. |
| Final
Words: |
Though I
would not praise "Girl, Interrupted" as an incredible film,
I really did love it. There is something immensely comforting
about watching these troubled women interact with one another
and the warmth they find within the cold corridors of a mental
institution. By the end I felt as if I knew all of them, which
makes this the kind of movie that is enjoyable to watch over
and over again. |
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