Girl, Interrupted (film)

Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 American drama film, and a loosely based adaptation of Susanna Kaysens 1993 memoir of the same name. The film chronicles Kaysens 18month stay at a mental institution. Directed by James Mangold, the film stars Winona Ryder who also served as an executive producer on the film as Kaysen, with a supporting cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy, Clea DuVall, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Moss and Vanessa Redgrave.

In April 1967, 18yearold Susanna Kaysen Winona Ryder, a depressed and unmotivated girl is checked into Claymoore psychiatric hospital, after having a nervous breakdown and 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 get rid of her headache. Susannas mother and father, along with the nurses and therapists, are surprised when Susanna confesses that she does not actually want to go to college and would like to become an independent, free spirited writer.Once in the ward, Susanna quickly befriends fellow patients Polly Clark aka Torch Elisabeth Moss, a schizophrenic but childlike girl terribly disfigured due to setting herself on fire, Georgina Tuskin Clea DuVall, a pathological liar obsessed with The Wizard of Oz, Daisy Randone Brittany Murphy, an antisocial, pampered girl with agoraphobia and an eating disorder, Janet Webber Angela Bettis, an anorexic ballerina, and Cynthia Crowley Jillian Armenante, a mentally disturbed lesbian. Most of all, she is particularly enchanted by Lisa Rowe Angelina Jolie, a mischievous and charismatic girl diagnosed as a sociopath and who takes pleasure in mocking and manipulating the people around her. Lisa encourages the easily influenced Susanna to stop taking her medication, sneak out of their room together, and resist therapy. On a group visit to a local ice cream shop, Susanna is confronted and harassed by the daughter and wife of an English professor with whom she had an affair. But Lisa, along with the other girls of the ward, defend Susanna, and verbally threaten and tease the two women until they leave the shop. ........

Source: Wikipedia