Girl, Interrupted

Director: James Mangold

1999 / 127min / 35mm

Based on a 1993 memoir of the same name by Susanna Kaysen, Mangold’s powerhouse picture sets its scene at a New England psychiatric hospital c. 1967 where Winona Ryder (in the Kaysen role; also a producer on the film) lands after suffering a nervous breakdown. Among the committed at Claymoore are a hall-of-fame lineup of ’90s female acting talent, including self-harmer Brittany Murphy, schizophrenic burn victim Elisabeth Moss and, in a star-making turn, Angelina Jolie as sociopath agitator Lisa Rowe. Ryder’s is not the flashiest role here, but she holds the film together with her quiet, alert intensity, offering a springboard for her co-stars to dive off into the deep end.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Part of Winona Ryder Analogue Youth