THE TRUE STORY OF SUSANNA KEYSEN : "GIRL, INTERRUPTED"

We owe this week’s theme to this little gem. James Mangold, director of many hits (you will remember him as the director of Walk The Line if nothing else) has done a wonderful job portraying an extraordinary true story… I think that people usually fight their most important battles with themselves. And sometimes, more than the battle itself, the hardest part is actually accepting there is a battle to be fought. This is the story of Susanna Keysen, the American writer and her 18 month stay in a mental institution. Now, mental institutions back in the 70’s were not what they are today. Sociopaths and people with eating disorders jostled together and tried their best to make sense of what was going on. It is highly questionable whether Keysen (diagnosed with “borderline personality disorder”) actually merited a stay here but as you will be able to see from the story there were definitely battles to be fought and the institution she was sent to provided an unlikely battleground to fight them upon.
Susanna Keysen (Winona Ryder) is a seemingly normal if rather unconventional young woman in the late ‘60s. She cuts her hair short, she wants to be a writer instead of going to college (much to the horror of her mother), she bucks just about every trend in her suburban neighborhood as she goes through life. She has some slightly strange “episodes” and hallucinations from time to time but nothing that seems too serious until she chases down a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka. A discreet talk with a therapist – also a friend of the family – means there is only one way forward. Susanna must go to a mental institution and receive therapy. And although technically Susanna signs herself in, she can by no means sign herself out again. Pretty shortly she realizes that she is stuck there until the hospital deems her fit to leave – and that this could in fact take years. So there is nothing for her to do except settle in as best she can and get to know her fellow inmates. Her inmates are sweet (if not “all there”) and life would be pretty easy, unless Lisa (Angelina Jolie) just having being caught for the umpteenth time is returned to the ward. Lisa is (diagnostically anyway) a sociopath. She is charismatic, sassy, good at pressing anyone’s buttons and causing any kind of havoc she chooses to. Susanna and Lisa strike up an unlikely but very real friendship that will be life changing for both of them…
I watched this film only half knowing what it was about and was bowled over, like the previous film, for two reasons. First the acting. You remember Winona Ryder, right? She couldn’t handle fame once she got her hands on it by all accounts, so I feel it’s a proper shame she vanished from the scene, she was really good once… Whoopi Goldberg is also there as Val, the head nurse. I’m always happy to see her in films for some reason, she feels like this old friend you keep bumping into, do you know what I mean? There are also appearances by other familiar faces, Jared Leto (and yes he is yummy as ever!), Vanessa Redgrave and the late Brittany Murphy among other people. All brilliant actors to be sure. But none of the above the one who blew me away, oh no… It was, and I hardly believe I’m writing this, Angelina Jolie. She won an Oscar® the Oscar® for her performance as Lisa. I always thought she was one of those people who were just about the looks, madam I stand corrected. You can act, and how… I don’t quite get why you (in fact she, why am I addressing Angelina Jolie specifically all of a sudden?) stopped (I mean, she’ s doing a lot for a lot of important issues in the world and that is awesome and deserves a barrel load of respect) but she stopped actually acting in her movies a while back and has gone slightly, well… If I said “Clint Eastwood” would you know what I mean?… A bit like Brad Pitt except he sort of made a comeback (in my view) with Inglorious Bastards. In short I was bowled over by her performance and sincerely, SINCERELY hope that we will see her in a role that involves showcasing her considerable talents someday soon.
The second is the story. You will undoubtedly notice that at places in the story it reads slightly like an Enid Blyton story but the other places are so raw and real that I seriously doubt there is serious artistic license involved. It also brings up a lot of interesting questions. I mean, a person may be “broken” in some places but not necessarily all over. Things may be going seriously wrong but that doesn’t mean they have nothing to offer as friends. It can of course mean that the friendship has some rather strange effects and consequences but there you are you see. I mean be honest, what is “normal” anyway? In the immortal words of the Mad Hatter, “We’re all a little mad here.” This film may well be one of my favorites ever… I hope you enjoy it too!