Girl, Interrupted review

Girl, Interrupted review

Girl, Interrupted was created in 1999 but was based in the 1960’s. The film depicts a memoir created by Susana Kayson about her time in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960’s. While the hospital has patients with all different physiological problems Susana who is the main character is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. Borderline personality disorder is described as an instability of self-image, relationships and goals. It also features unstable mood, uncertainty about goals and impulsive self-damaging behaviors. One hallmark of Borderline Personality Disorder is having unstable and intense relationships and being sexually promiscuous. This is portrayed throughout the film. At the beginning of the film Susana had a sexual relationship with her friend’s father who was married. The father wanted more from the relationship but Susanna wanted it to just be sexual. Her ex Toby who she had a previous fling with comes to visit Susana in the hospital and she almost ended up having sexual relations with him as well. Susanna also gets very close very quickly to one of the male hospital workers during her stay and almost develops a relationship with him until he is moved to a different unit of the hospital. Another hallmark of Borderline Personality Disorder is suicidal behavior. Susanna displays this at the beginning of the film when she had a nervous breakdown and took a whole bottle of aspirin and drank a whole bottle of vodka. Susanna claimed that she was not trying to commit suicide but just get rid of her headache. They had to pump her stomach. While she was being taken to the emergency room she claimed that she did not have bones in her arms anymore. They discovered arms on her wrists from self-mutilation. Another hallmark of Borderline Personality Disorder is chronic feelings of emptiness. This is portrayed throughout the film. Susanna is asked in the beginning how she is feeling and she states that “I don’t know how I am feeling.” She describes herself is train that is moving while she is sitting still. Another hallmark of Borderline Personality Disorder is lack of motivation. Susanna is the only high school senior who is not planning on going to college after graduation. She wants to become a writer instead. During the 1960’s this was not considered a “job. People looked at writing as more of a hobby. This also connects with another hallmark of Borderline Personality Disorder which is unstable self-image. They have shifting goals, values and vocational interests. People with this disorder may not feel like they exist at all and results in poor performance in school which is depicted by Susanna’s grades and lack of college plans.

The film characterizes the public view of the group from the hospital as below them. Susanna and the other girls go for an outing to an ice cream parlor and she is confronted by the mother and daughter of the married man who she slept with at the beginning of the film. They tell her that they hope they put Susanna in the mental hospital for ever. The mother then yells at the other patients. The film also characterizes the public view of the group from the hospital as crazy. In the beginning of the film the cab driver who is driving Susanna to the hospital states “What did you do, you look normal?” Susanna replies back that she is sad and the cab driver tells her that she doesn’t look sad. Later in the film Susanna’s ex-boyfriend comes and visits her at the hospital he wants her to run away with him. He tells Susana that she doesn’t need to be there and that the other girls in the hospital are the crazy ones. The public believes that you have to look sad or look crazy to actually be sad or crazy. They do not realize that people who look normal can be dealing with many issues inside of them.

The film highlights the impact Susanna has had on her family. Her family at first Susanna’s actions are just to rebel against them. For example, when she falls asleep during graduation they accuse her of pulling a prank. They also think she purposely arrives late to things. When Susanna sees a therapist the therapist tells Susana that she is hurting everyone around her.

The struggle depicted throughout the film is Susanna’s struggle to accept her diagnoses of borderline personality disorder and to cooperate with the treatment for it. At the beginning of the film Susanna denies that she took the alcohol and bottle of aspirin to commit suicide and stated that she just had a headache. When Susanna first arrives at the hospital she stops taking her medication and does not work with her therapist. She breaks into the therapist office to read her file and she breaks out of the ward as well. The climax in the film is after Susanna spends days feeling sorry for herself. One of the nurses throws her into a tub of water and tells her to get herself out of it. The nurse tells Susanna that she is not crazy but she is a lazy, self-indulgent little girl who is driving herself crazy. Susanna than breaks out of the hospital with her friend Liza and go to Daisy’s house. Daisy is a previous patient who got released. Liza spends the night tormenting daisy about the marks on her wrist and says that she should kill herself. She also infers that Daisy’s father had sexual relations with Daisy and she liked it. The next morning Susanna and Liza find Daisy after she committed suicide. Liza robs daisy and then Liza runs away before the ambulance comes but Susanna stays. Susanna gets taken back to the hospital. After this incident Susana realizes that she could be headed down this same path if she does not get help. She finally stops feeling sorry for herself and starts to invest in her treatment. She starts seeing her therapist three times a week and sharing all her thoughts. She also starts taking her medication correctly and after a few months she is released from the hospital. As she sits in the cab going home she states “crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed, it. If you ever wish you could be a child forever.”

This movie was very interesting to me. I find little glimpses of myself as I watched Susanna. I think the movie showed people that sometimes the only thing stopping you is yourself. I will always carry that message with me from now on. I was also surprised to see how people with disabilities were treated in the 1960’s. They were not treated like they were humans instead they were sent away from their families. I also found it shocking that back then being homosexual was considered a mental condition which you could be hospitalized for. After watching this movie some of the personality traits Susana showed reminded me of myself. But like Liza states after hearing Susanna’s diagnoses “That is everyone.”