Girl, Interrupted film review

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GIRL, INTERRUPTED

In her extraordinary memoir Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen notes: "Insanity comes in two basic varieties: slow and fast."

James Mangold's star-laden adaptation only seems concerned with the former, reshaping Kaysen's wry account of her voluntary two-year residency at Claymoore psychiatric hospital during the 1960s into a long-winded One Flew Over The Cuckoo Chick's Nest.

Winona Ryder plays the 17-year-old Kaysen, who abandons her confused and suicidal middle-class life for a brief spell of self-imposed lock up. Inside, she meets an eclectic group of troubled young women who include Wizard Of Oz fixated room-mate Georgina (Clea DuVall), sociopath Lisa (Angelina Jolie), pampered anorexic Daisy (Brittany Murphy), and burns victim Polly (Elisabeth Moss).

The girls play music to one another, enjoy games of midnight ten-pin bowling and break into the office of Dr Wick (Vanessa Redgrave) to sneak a peak at their psychiatric evaluations. They laugh, they cry, make up, break up and pray the misery will soon be over.

After the first hour, we know exactly how they feel. Ryder, who voluntarily checked herself into a hospital when she was 20, clearly understands what Kaysen went through and is a radiant central presence.

There's a tangible sadness in her eyes as she becomes absorbed in the day-to-day lives of the other inmates.

Oscar winner Jolie overplays the showiest role on offer, reducing Lisa to an unsympathetic stereotype who hurts others to avoid facing her own inner demons.

Mangold unwisely retains the episodic nature of the book and consequently Girl, Interrupted lacks fluency and pace. If he hoped the audience might experience the same frustration, confusion and boredom as the Claymoore Hospital inmates, he has succeeded with flying colours. Somehow, I suspect that wasn't his intention.