Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted
A Comparison of the James Mangold Film and the Book
Dec 15, 2008 Leslie C. Halpern
The 1999 drama starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie (for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress among other honors) brings to life the memoirs of Susanna Kaysen, a recovered borderline personality who reflects in her book on being institutionalized 25 years previously after attempting suicide. In the memoir, Girl, Interrupted, Kaysen divides the material chronologically, with frequent references to related incidents that happened earlier in her life. She describes the day of her hospital admission in 1967 to her release in 1969.
Determining the Truth in Girl, Interrupted
In the book, Kaysen tries to piece together the truth about her admission and stay in the psychiatric hospital through documented facts (nurse, doctor and hospital records), her own memories, and stories from others. “I’m sure they [her high school classmates] didn’t think about me much. I was that one who wore black and – and really, I’ve heard it from several people – slept with the English teacher,” she mentions. In some cases, however, Kaysen uses these same records as springboards for refuting and negating; she argues with the records about her time spent in analysis before being committed and the importance of her symptoms (e.g., promiscuity, instability, wrist-banging, face-scratching and swallowing 50 aspirin in a suicide attempt).
In the film, Ryder narrates part of the story, suggesting that we all go a little crazy sometimes and that feeling ambivalent or taking a pessimistic view of life reflect an ongoing instability in everyone. Although Ryder’s character (Susanna Kaysen) seems unwilling and unable to grasp her own truth, the other characters (doctors, nurses, and patients) appear more than willing to set her straight about her condition. Through their eyes – and her growing awareness – viewers witness her eventual acceptance of the truth.
Coming to Terms With Anger in Girl, Interrupted
In the memoir, Kaysen returns to using records as confirmation of her story. The final page of the book is her release record stating the hospitalization outcome as “Recovered Borderline Personality.” She dismisses the lengthy stay at the hospital as a possible mistake by the doctors. “Maybe I was just flirting with madness the way I flirted with my teachers and classmates. I wasn’t convinced I was crazy, though I feared I was.” Although in 1969, she may have reached the point where she was healthy enough to again function in society, when she wrote the book in 1993, she seemed to contain the same rage and resentment that sent her to the hospital in the first place.
In the movie version, however, Ryder’s character appears quite changed (and a little shell-shocked) from the experience in the mental hospital. As she heals emotionally, she humbly apologizes to the nurse (Whoopi Goldberg) she previously insulted, forgives Lisa (Jolie) for her cruel pranks, and acknowledges her own suicide attempt (after repeatedly denying anything other than a headache). Ryder’s large expressive eyes convincingly reflect her fear of her present situation and desire for a better future.
Girl, Interrupted Based on a Painting
For the name of her well-written book, Kaysen borrowed from the title of a Vermeer painting: Girl Interrupted at Her Music. She wrote in her memoir: “Interrupted at her music: as my life had been, interrupted in the music of being seventeen, as her life had been, snatched and fixed on canvas: one moment made to stand still and to stand for all the other moments, whatever they would be or might have been. What life can recover from that?”
In the film, Ryder (as the young Susanna) – a budding writer – gives a moving performance that implies she is someone who can indeed recover and eventually thrive from that experience. As portrayed in the film, Susanna is someone to be respected and admired for her ability to overcome adversity.
The Book
- Girl, Interrupted
- By Susanna Kaysen
- Vintage
- Paperback, 1994
The Film
- Girl, Interrupted
- Starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg
- Director: James Mangold
- Run Time: 127 minutes
- Rating: R (for strong language and content relating to drugs, sexuality, and suicide)
- Theatrical Release 1999
- DVD Release 2004
For more information about Girl, Interrupted, read Review of Girl, Interrupted on DVD.
Ryder and Jolie Star in Girl, Interrupted
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