Going Sane
Ryder and Jolie Find Life Interrupted

There is something fascinating about Susanna, the tortured young woman in Girl, Interrupted. Although she has tried to kill herself by chasing a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka, she insists she just had a headache. But it's not the denial that is interesting. It's her insistence that time is flexible and doesn't always travel in straight lines.

Winona Ryder plays Susanna, an 18 year-old during the turbulent '60s. Unlike all the other kids in her high school, she had no desire to go to college, and her lack of ambition has her parents concerned. When she tries to kill herself, they have her examined and suggest that she take some time out at Claymore, a psychiatric hospital.

Introduced to the strange world of Claymore, Susanna finds it frightening. The first few girls seem nice enough, like her roommate Georgina (Clea DuVall) who has an obsession with the world of Oz. But when Lisa (Angelina Jolie) arrives, the serenity of the hospital is shattered. Lisa has sociopathic tendencies, and she immediately fixates on Susanna.

Jolie's performance is intriguing -- to the point of being frightening. Every movie I have seen her in shows a different side of her talent. While Lisa has moments of calm playfulness, Jolie makes the audience believe that there's something "evil" lurking just beneath the surface.

Susanna's own perception of reality causes her to flip through life like skipping around in the pages of a book. A conversation with a psychiatrist may lead to a dinner party her parents threw the previous Christmas. These time jumps can be confusing for the audience at first, but as Susanna adapts to her new environment, these occupancies start to fall away. As a result, the audience must assume that Susanna's stay at the hospital is having a beneficial effect on her. But there are moments that make us consider Susanna's intelligence and that she could be telling the doctors what they want to hear.

Ryder does an excellent job of playing the vulnerable Susanna. If there was an award for giving that "doe caught in headlights" look, she'd win it hands down. But Susanna grows during her stay at Claymore, and Ryder does an excellent job of reflecting that change in her performance.

Academy Award™ winner Whoopi Goldberg does an excellent job as Valerie, one of the attendant nurses at Claymore. Every scene she is in, she steals. Every line she gives is memorable. Sadly, Valerie is a secondary character and doesn't get much screen time. But every moment is golden.

Girl, Interrupted is based on the book of the same name by Susanna Kaysen. The book is a true account of Kaysen's experiences at a psychiatric institute in 1967-68.

MY RATING: 8 out of 10.

RATED: R
RUN TIME: 127 min.