Film Analysis: Girl Interrupted

Through out the novel, Susanna portrayed a number of abnormal behaviors that interfered with her ability to function. The first symptom, and probably the most

This movie is about institutionalized girls who are receiving treatments for multiple mental health disorders. Claymore Psychiatric Hospital is in Belmont, Massachusetts, this movie is based on a true story. Daisy Randone, Susanna Kaysen, and Lisa are the three main characters in this movie. Mrs. Randone’s is hospitalized for depression and bulimia nervosa disorder. The way this movie portrays numerous mental health disorders is excellent. A variety of clients from different cultural and diversities are being treated at Claymore. It is an awesome movie, the way the patients’ act out the personalities and disorders gives an excellent understanding of the disorders. Susanna is being treated for depression, and borderline personality disorder. While, Lisa is a sociopath and isn’t very complaint with treatment regimens and has been in and out of the facility several times. While Susanna attempts suicide by chugging a bottle of vodka with at least twenty – five aspirin and is unsuccessful, Daisy sadly ends up hanging herself from harsh words and manipulative, provoking from Lisa. She is successful in her attempt by hanging and the day of her death is on her birthday.

The movie Girl, Interrupted is based on the memoir written by Susana Kaysen. In this film, Susana Kaysen, the main character is first introduced in the hospital where she was taken shortly after overdosing on aspirin and alcohol. Despite taking a whole bottle of aspirin and alcohol Susana claims that it was not a suicidal attempt. In the hospital scene, there is also evidence on Susana’s wrist that she is what is known as a “wrist banger”, Susana claims that she does this because there are no bones in her hands. Shortly after, Susana is evaluated by a family friend and former psychiatrist and is strongly encouraged to check herself into a mental institution not too far from her, by the name of Claymoore. At Claymoore, she is evaluated by psychiatrist Melvin Potts. He asks her why she took so much aspirin and she replies that she wanted to make the time jumps, depression, and wrist banging stop. Susana is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder once she arrives at Claymoore.

Girl, Interrupted (adapted from the original book Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen) takes place in the 60’s. The main character, Susanna, is eighteen years old at the start of the movie. The film gives viewers a deeper look into the day to day life of patients in a mental hospital. Susanna which at the start seems to be somewhat relieved to be “taking a break” at Claymoore Hospital eventually realizes how horrible it is to be in there, and decides to try to get better after an awful series of events. Susanna’s parents send her to Claymoore because she allegedly attempted suicide by swallowing a full bottle of aspiring and vodka, but she denies it, and argues that she was just trying to stop her “headache”.

Girl, Interrupted provides an in-depth look into Susanna Kaysen’s experience of living with a mental illness and staying in a mental hospital. Twenty-five years after she leaves McLean she learns of her diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and discusses it in her memoir. Kaysen reads about her disorder from the DSM-III-R and views her diagnosis as:

If you have not seen Dazed and Confused than you are really missing out. It is a great movie that relates from everything to High School to Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll. With an outstanding cast (from the past) it is a movie that everyone can relate to. Dazed and Confused reflects the lifestyle of kids that are entering high school for the first time, to seniors owning the school and being the "man" on compass. It portrays that freshman must watch their backs at all times and if you think you're as cool as the seniors, then you better watch out. There is a ritual that the seniors do to the freshman that have given so many people in reality a though of. With School being out for summer, in Dazed and Confused, it offers a great soundtrack from

A new and alarming trend that has been occurring in American society is the increase of violence committed by young women. The documentary Girlhood offers an insight on the emotional, psychological, and social reasoning behind the girl’s actions. Girlhood focuses on the life of two young juveniles, Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen both incarcerated for violent crimes. Shanae and Megan both experienced similar circumstances that yielded different outcomes. They were followed for a period of about three years which allowed viewers to really see what kind of role the justice system, family and peers have on the success of an at risk juvenile.

In class we viewed documentary titled Girlhood, the film surrounded two teenage girls named Megan and Shanae. Both of the girls have been in the system for years, Megan has been in and out of juvenile detention centers and foster homes for years and is incarcerated this time for attacking one of the other youth at her foster home with a box cutter. Shanae was incarcerated at the tender age of 11 for stabbing a “friend” to death during a fight. The film focuses on getting to know the girls personalities, family history, the journey of their rehabilitation and overall how they ended up in the situations that they are currently in. It also captures the girls in a different light (their funny personalities, them being hopeful, intelligent, and just needing support) instead of just portraying them as juvenile criminals who were just terrible people.

While watching this film it truly opened my eye to the violence that occurs to females. I know this issue has been around, but never realized the severity of it until this film. My knowledge prior to watching is that women is not treated with the same respect as men. In society women are viewed as the weaker gender and violence towards them are usually swept under the rug and not seem as a big deal. I am aware that women usually do not report the issue because they are afraid. What was most surprising to me is that in third world countries violence such as rape, are not even considered to be serious. The higher authorities are aware that rape occurs, but usually do nothing about the situation. Men can simply get away with their acts because

The first patient to be discussed will be the main character, Susanna Kaysen, a middle-class woman, who is admitted to a mental hospital after attempting suicide by “taking a whole bottle of aspirin and finishing it with a bottle of vodka.” In the beginning, Susanna refused to admit to the psychiatrist that it was a suicide attempt which holds evidence to her prognosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). According to the text, BPD is a personality disorder characterized by repeated instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and mood by impulsive behavior. This holds evident throughout Susanna’s stay in the hospital as well as in her flashbacks during the movie. During

Among the characters in the movie, Susanna appeared to be the least seriously ill. Some of the mental illnesses present in the movie are considered more unmanageable than they are now. People dealing with eating disorders nowadays do not get placed into a mental hospital, but rather a setting that specializes with this type of disorder. However, Susanna was in denial that she had tried to commit suicide and even that she was mentally ill. She claimed that the reason for consuming a bottle of vodka while swallowing a bottle of aspirin was just for a headache. According to NIMH (2007), a person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day. These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived abandonment and disappointments.

In a society where mental illness and unconventional actions often appeal to negative connotations, such issues maintain pessimism when dispensed into film texts. Departing from the conventional, Craig Gillespie inserts compassion and acceptance into his 2007 film, Lars and the Real Girl, offering an optimistic presentation of society when challenged by the unusual, and likewise, a world in which the ultimate health of an individual outweighs the momentary discomfort of a community. Although limited to a conditioned audience, Gillespie effectively conveys his alternative perspective through language and stylistic features. The romantic script of Lars and the Real Girl illustrates the power of empathy and compassion in healing internal wounds.

Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted: Telling Susanna’s journey through therapy and being sent to McLean Hospital when she wasn’t sure if she needed the help or not. She meets new people, and goes through many new experiences. Susanna thought at first that she was wrongly admitted to the hospital, then ends up not wanting to go back into the world unprotected.

The movie, Girl, Interrupted, displays Susanna Kaysen’s eighteen-month stay at a mental institute in the 1960s. This film was an adaptation of a book based on a true story of the main character and author Susanna Kaysen. Susanna was checked into Claymore, a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, after chasing a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka. At first, Susanna denies this blatant attempt at suicide and constantly struggles with uncertainty of her thoughts and emotions. Although Girl, Interrupted exhibits several mental disorders one of the most prevalent disorder of this film is Susanna’s Borderline Personality Disorder. This film depicts majority of the signs and symptoms of a person with Borderline Personality. As stated in the textbook, “the lives of persons with borderline personality are marked by instability. Their relationships are unstable, their behavior is unstable, their emotions are unstable, and even their images of themselves are unstable” (Larsen and Buss 593). Susanna’s romantic relationships are extremely unstable and she frequently engages in casual sex. She jumps from one guy to another in a matter of few weeks. One scene that establishes this the most is when her boyfriend at the time comes to visit her at Claymore and expresses his true feelings for her and she instantly withdraws. He asked her to go to Canada with him and she turns him down immediately. She also kisses Lisa who she befriends at the mental institute, displaying a switch of

In the movie Girl, Interrupted the plot surrounds a period in the life of Susanna Kaysen played by Winona Ryder who was institutionalized at the Claymore mental hospital in the 1960s. In the movie, the main character Susanna is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and undergoes treatment to which at the end of the movie she is released. It is at this hospital that Susanna encounters many other patients of which she shares many experiences with. One of these patients was the longtime resident and popular amongst all the other patients Lisa Rowe played by Angelina Jolie whom Susanna became close with and would mid-movie escape the hospital with to only return on her own and find that Lisa would be back a few days later. Lisa, while being the protagonist of the movie, was very charismatic in her own way and based on her behavior and revelation in the movie is diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, particularly a sociopath in the movie.