The 2000s Movie Project: 'Girl Interrupted'

Girl Interrupted (2000)

Directed by James Mangold

Written by James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan

Starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg, Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss, Clea Duvall

Release Date January 14th, 2000

I have seen the movie Girl Interrupted before. I saw it when it was released theatrically in January of 2000. I recall admiring it and new, rising star, Angelina Jolie, who would earn a much deserved Oscar nomination for her work. Thus, it came as quite a shock to me, when I watched the film for the first time since the theatrical release and was shocked at how bad it was. The opening two minutes of Girl Interrupted features one of the most obnoxious movie tropes on the planet.

Let’s set the scene: Interior some dingy, unused portion of a 1960s mental hospital. Four young women are in the room and it appears that something awful has happened. The scene is narrated by our leading actress, Winona Ryder who delivers this wildly melodramatic voiceover monologue:

“Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you had the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train was moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60s.Or maybe I was just a girl… interrupted” Turn to camera, look directly down the lens.

That’s the opening of Girl Interrupted, this obnoxious, mind numbing monologue that culminates with the most pretentious line of dialogue and breaking of the 4th wall I’ve seen in any movie. That’s immediately followed by a smash cut back in time to how Ryder’s character came to be at this mental hospital, a mostly straightforward scene following this immensely misguided, overblown and desperately pretentious film school 101 opening scene. Yikes! How did I ever forget this?

From there the movie improves, but not by much. Susan, Ryder’s main character, meets her colorful fellow inmates who may as well introduce themselves with their names and particular mental illnesses. It’s not that the performances are bad, these are first rate actors in these roles, but the blunt force of the screenplay leaves little to the imagination. James Mangold’s direction of Girl Interrupted is more than a little on the nose, gravely underestimating the audience's ability to understand the characters and this cast’s ability to communicate with that audience.

Angelina Jolie co-stars in Girl Interrupted as Lisa the Sociopath. She may as well have a nametag that says that. That said, Angelina Jolie does infuse Lisa with a broad and lively energy. Initially, she is hostile toward Susan but it’s not long before Lisa adopts Susan as her closest friend and ally. Also befriending Susan, and rounding out the main cast, are her roommate, Georgina (Clea Duvall), a pathological liar who's lying never pays off with any impact on the plot, and a younger patient named Polly (Elisabeth Moss), a burn victim and schizophrenic.

Playing the antagonist role is Brittany Murphy as Daisy. Daisy is a long time victim of sexual abuse who is also dealing with a serious eating disorder. The film is almost comical in portraying Daisy’s disorder via the rotting chicken carcasses she hides under her bed. The chickens are a gift from her father, a successful butcher who may or may not also be abusing her under the noses of the nurses and guards at the hospital. Daisy’s plot will drive much of the action of Girl Interrupted with her conflict with Lisa acting as the most dramatic catalyst in the film.

Murphy’s deeply melodramatic performance and Jolie’s more natural and charismatic performance clash in more ways than one. They are in conflict, of course, in the story, as opposing personalities, but they also have completely different energy with Murphy struggling to match Jolie's electric performance. The character is supposed to be overwhelmed by Jolie's character but Murphy is simply blown off the screen by Jolie's volcanic, movie star presence.

The same can be said of star Winona Ryder. Despite being the most experienced actor of the main cast, and despite having played a number of large leading lady roles by the time Girl Interrupted was released, Ryder is no match for Jolie either. Ryder is the unquestioned lead of Girl Interrupted and the character is written as a wilting flower, struggling with this strange and unwelcome place in her life. That said, opposite Jolie she looks completely overwhelmed. Jolie is enthralling, she embodies her sociopathic character in every way. Ryder and the rest of the cast come off like... actors while Jolie melts into her role.

It's strange to think but Angelina Jolie is so compelling and exciting in Girl Interrupted that she actually overwhelms the movie. The film struggles to contain her and get her to feel like she's on the same planet as the rest of the cast. By being so good, Jolie exposes the flaws of the rest of the movie which feels lifeless and adrift when she isn't on center stage. Then when she is on screen the rest of the movie suffers by comparison. That's not Jolie's fault, she's incredible, it's a star-making performance.

No, this flaw clearly falls on director James Mangold whose approach to this material is completely off. Mangold simply doesn't connect with these characters or this story. Compared to Mangold's other work such as 3:10 to Yuma, Logan, Ford vs Ferrari, Girl Interrupted is deeply disengaged. Mangold's direction is shoddy and the story being told suffers from shortcuts and compromises intended to make the story of the real Susanna Kaysen, the movie is based on her memoir, more cinematic. The shortcuts and compromises are obvious as are the arty and pretentious attempts to elevate Girl Interrupted to a meaning the film never achieves.

My memory of Girl Interrupted betrayed me. I remember thinking at the time, January of 2000, that the movie was brilliant. Watching it again 22 years later and I am baffled as to what I saw in this slipshod, failing attempt at capturing a moment in time and in our collective mental health. That opening scene is such a cringe-inducing disaster that I felt a second hand embarrassment for Winona Ryder even 22 years later. I didn't cringe at the time and perhaps that is what's changed. I can see things in movies now that I just wasn't looking for then.

I think perhaps that I flattered myself by finding this awful scene to be some brilliant introduction to a high minded, female alternative to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Now, I've seen Cuckoo's Nest several times and only now have I gone back to Girl Interrupted and the two movies simply do not compare. Aside from each being set in a mental institution, Girl Interrupted isn't nearly as accomplished as Cuckoo's Nest. Angelina Jolie perhaps could be a fair comparison to Jack Nicholson, each are brilliant in their role, but that's the only way in which Girl Interrupted can withstand comparison to Cuckoo's Nest.

Even without such a one sided comparison, Girl Interrupted is a failure. In attempting to make Susanna Kaysen's story more typically cinematic, bending the story to the will of three act structure, among other things, James Mangold choked the life out of the story. Perhaps trying to adapt someone's diary, a highly subjective and personal expression, into something with wide appeal was simply a mistake that no filmmaker could overcome. For whatever reason, 22 years later, Girl Interrupted is a movie I wish I had not revisited.

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