Winona Ryder @ 50: "Girl Interrupted"
Friday, October 29, 2021 at 10:00AM
We've been celebrating Winona Ryder all week for her 50th birthday
by Matt St Clair
During this pandemic, I’ve thought a lot about the climactic scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999) where Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) is in the tunnels of Claymoore, confronting Lisa (Angelina Jolie) for pressing her buttons and trying to force her to feel the same amount of misery she does. As Susanna contemplates how the overall world is a cruel, inhuman place, she still proclaims, “I’d rather be in it!”
At first glance, that proclamation is confusing. For Susanna, Claymoore and its thick walls are initially an escape from the cruel outside world. But between the specialists surrounding her generalizing what she’s feeling, and Lisa who acts as a confidante before proving that misery loves company, Susanna realizes that Claymoore isn’t entirely different from the world. Ultimately, she decides she’d rather be miserable yet out in the open than miserable and locked away...
As someone who deals with depression, the climax is a moment that has stuck with me during these turbulent pandemic times because during my toughest moments when retreating in bed or at home feels like a comfy alternative to stepping out of my own walls and into the cruel outside world, like Susanna, I decide to step out into it because I can at least be surrounded by people close to me or do leisurely things that give me happiness.
It’s also a moment that is delivered with subdued power by Winona Ryder. Ryder’s co-star Angelina Jolie reaped the film’s entire awards acclaim with her more livewire performance as the charismatic Lisa Rowe, eventually winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. But Jolie’s fellow supporting ladies (Brittany Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Vanessa Redgrave, etc.) also standout and, in the end, it’s Winona Ryder who holds the film together.
The film received mixed reviews in 1999, and Ryder’s performance also had its detractors, killing any Oscar dreams in Best Actress. While it's true that Ryder doesn’t reach career-best heights or stretch from her wheelhouse of neurotic outsiders, great stars don't always have to step out of their comfort zones to deliver fine work. Susanna's sensible sharp-tongue and her uneasy vulnerability perfectly suits Ryder’s skill set and Ryder pulls it off more wonderfully than she was credited for.
For what it’s worth, Ryder’s Susanna taught me to keep moving forward. I even use Petula Clark’s “Downtown,” which Susanne and Lisa perform at one point for a fellow patient to lift her spirits, as my own remedy on occasion. Awards aren't everything; there’s still no prize for resonating with viewers the way Ryder’s work in Girl, Interrupted has with me.
previously on Winona @ 50
Beetlejuice (1988)
Heathers (1989)
Mermaids (1990)
Age of Innocence (1993)
Little Women (1994)
up next:
one more to wrap things up... Stranger Things (2016-)
1999, Angelina Jolie, Girl Interrupted, Oscars (90s), Winona Ryder
Reader Comments (10)
I was expecting a review on Winona’s turn in The Crucible. I think it’s one of her most underrated performances.
I love the film and Ryder's performance (better than all five Oscar nominees that year) and yet could never wrap my head around Jolie steamrolling that awards season. I'd nominate Goldberg before her!
Antonio so was I,I think she's ok in this but it's hardly a stretch and some of her line readings are way off i'm thinking of the "I just had a headache" line which she cannot sell as humour,I find Jolie fine in a gift of a part but find myself more touched by the other inmates Elisabeth Moss and Brittany Murphy
I was more into the performances of Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss, Whoopi, and Clea Duvall in the supporting roles than Jolie who I felt just over-did it. Plus, it's a shame that Winona got overlooked.
I loved Winona and Angie together. Their Premiere cover was so hot. Angie blows it away in this.
Murphy broke my heart in this.
This was during the time of Angelina's ascendance. Gia had just happened and she won a Golden Globe- and people talked about how she looked. There was no denying her the Oscar that year.
I do wish we could talk about her performance in The Crucible as Abigail Williams- the ultimate angsty teen in stage history. I really enjoyed the way she plays the impetuousness of Abigail- that we can see the wheels turning in Abigail's mind while she is trying to come up with plans right on the spot. There are flashes of spontaneity, fear, and even excitement in her face. But the movie -like Girl Interrupted- got mixed reviews and that killed any chance she would get real Oscar attention while a supporting player- in case Joan Allen- get a nomination.
Matt, thanks for sharing how personal this movie - and Noni's performance - was for you. In the end, that matters so much more than who did and didn't get nominated for it.
Interested to see so many fans of her work in The Crucible - it was sort of the opposite of Little Women for me in that I thought she was perfect for the part of Abigail but didn't love her performance. Didn't really love Daniel Day-Lewis, either, but that might be because I really wanted Liam Neeson to play John Proctor. However, I'll defend Joan Allen's Oscar nomination with my last breath...for me she was best in show, both in the movie and in the Supporting Actress Oscar lineup that year.
@ Lynn Lee- Liam Neson did get to play Proctor on Broadway I think. If you visit the website Stinkylulu you can see one of the earliest smackdowns- Allen almost wins that year!
TomG - yes, I know - and opposite Laura Linney as his wife! I would have *loved* to have seen that pairing, kicking myself in retrospect for not making the trip.