Girl, Interrupted (1999)
“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 moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy..."
So muses Winona Ryder's voice-over in the opening scene of this 1999 classic, in a quote lifted directly from the book. The irony of the second sentence is not lost on anyone. And aside from her shoplifting incident in the early 2000s - ten years prior to that Ryder signed herself into a mental health facility when dealing with the isolation of her early fame. Since that time she had become interested in adapting Susanna Kaysen's memoir "Girl, Interrupted" to the screen, developing the project for several years before finally being able to bring it to fruition.
This was a highly personal, labour of love for Ryder and is still considered by many to be her crowning achievement. Yet, if it hadn't been for her role on Stranger Things, her incident at Saks Fifth Avenue may have threatened to overshadow her career. Since then Marc Jacobs (whose sweater she lifted, among other garments) has actually featured Ryder in an endorsement. Yes, the incident was an unfortunate and perhaps inexplicable transgression, but when compared with the serious misbehaviour of some of her males colleagues who were afforded lucrative comebacks, her side-lining in the industry for a good 15 years seems unfair.
But let's go back to the beginning. Winona Ryder's ascent was stratospheric in the late 80s, early 90s. Her "silent movie" star-quality (as director Tim Burton puts it) made her a natural for the screen. Her early breakthrough came in the form of Heathers, a daring, pitch-black high school comedy, which her management begged her not to do. Her collaborations with Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) would cement her place in pop culture lore (not to mention the public interest in her resulting romance with Johnny Depp).
She was the 'it" girl of the 90s, working with the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. She garnered Oscar nominations with The Age of Innocence and Little Women. She even played Cher's daughter in the 1990 flick Mermaids (in which she demonstrated often overlooked comedic abilities) and opposite Daniel Day Lewis in the 1996 adaptation of The Crucible. Her doe-eyed natural charisma and ability to be both heartfelt and sardonic also served her well in Gen X time capsule Reality Bites. But again, it was Girl, Interrupted that proved to be the zenith of her career (at least thus far).
Set in the 1960s, this is the story of Susanna, a young woman who feels like a social outsider, who is pressurised to conform by her parents and school, but is prone to acting out and shutting herself off from the world, and resistant to third level education. After an overdose incident, she is sent off to Clamore, a mental health facility, where she is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and meets a host of characters also suffering from mental illness, not least Lisa Rowe (played by a magnetic Angelina Jolie in an Oscar-winning role).
In this setting she must contend with medical staff (including Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave) and fellow patients (Elisabeth Moss, Clea Duvall and several other great female character actors - this was very much a precursor to Orange is the New Black), trying to integrate in the existing dynamics, all the while denying her own necessity to be there. Her hair shorn to a pixie cut, Ryder imbues the lead role with extraordinary sensitivity yet spikiness, navigating this seemingly hostile environment with understandable apprehension. We are immediately on her side.
Jolie's Lisa on the other hand, for all her ferocious charisma, represents the future Susanna might find herself living out, if she fails to make progress to the doctors' satisfaction. Lisa has been in the institution for several years, constantly acting out and suffering intensely. She is utterly cynical about the whole mental health enterprise, claiming of talk therapy "You lie down, you confess your secrets and you're saved." Susanna journals through the turmoil, and gradually learns to gel with her peers and participates in their rule-breaking antics. They force their way into the hospital's offices and read from their own files, confronted with the opinions of medical professionals. They visit a local ice cream parlour on a day out, teasing the assistant with suggestive quips, and making a scene with the wife and daughter of one of Susanna's past sexual partners.
Susanna becomes increasingly rebellious and frustrated with her circumstance: "I signed myself into this place I should be able to sign myself out". Her aggravation grows, and on another occasion Lisa and Susanna break out, party and decide to visit a former patient who "got out" - they find Daisy (portrayed by the late Brittany Murphy) who is still decidedly unwell. Lisa taunts Daisy, whose reaction leads to the most devastating consequences. The aftermath of this episode shakes Susanna out of her crusade against the system. After a tearful monologue to Goldberg's Nurse Valerie, she vows to do the work to make a full recovery. However, her departure from the hospital proves to be painful, when in the manner of Harriet the Spy, her journals are exposed by Lisa and her innermost thoughts spoken aloud to her peers. Again, the truth, even if it's just one person's opinion, is harsh.
Girl, Interrupted is often dismissed as simply being One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for "chicks". And maybe it is. But don't women deserve their own mental institution drama? Why is that a criticism? As iconic as that 1975 film is, I would argue that the viewer can empathise and feels closer to Susanna as opposed to Nicholson's McMurphy, due to the sensitivity of the writing and Ryder's performance. James Mangold unveils the story with assured direction (he also co-wrote the script), there is realism imbued with a fairytale quality (thanks in large part to Michael Dynna's score). The scene where Ryder and Jolie sing Petula Clark's "Downtown" on guitar to Elisabeth Moss' character through a door is a highlight. So is the slick montage set to Wilco's "How to Fight Loneliness". But it's the performances that truly sing. This is a gorgeously cast film and despite the darkness, a life-affirming story. It deserves to be revisited as the 25th anniversary approaches. And Ryder is overdue for another substantial lead role.