“Girl, Interrupted” A self-portrait of Winona Ryder who lives forever *Note! Contains spoilers.

standard of normality

“In our parallel world something happened that had not yet happened in the world before us. By the time it finally became reality in the outside world, we had already seen something similar happen before our eyes. I was used to it because I was always there.'' (` `Girls in the Adolescent Ward '')

The cause of Susannah's pain is unknown. A pain that can't be blamed on anyone. A pain that I never understood even after many years. Susannah has no secrets. As a woman who attempted suicide by ingesting large amounts of aspirin and vodka, she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. "A kid who wants to destroy himself." But is she really sick?

There is a line that symbolizes the contradictions in Susannah's recovery process. During the interview, Susanna was asked by a female consultant about her long-term goals in life, and she answered, ``I want to be a writer.'' She answers the same question in interviews both when she is hospitalized and when she is discharged. Whether she was diagnosed as abnormal or normal, her goal remained the same. The rebellious intellect that views the world with suspicion has not changed at all.

The experience in the mental hospital only adds empathy to Lisa and her friends to Susanna's life. But she probably didn't realize that she was empathizing with him from the beginning. It's like she didn't realize that she was helplessly attracted to Lisa. This is consistent with the story of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, who wanted a heart. The Tin Man also simply did not realize that he already had a heart (the very desire for a heart is proof that he already has a heart).

“Girl, Interrupted” (c) Photofest / Getty Images

Little by little, Lisa is able to verbalize her empathy for their pain. Susannah's recovery lies in the process of discovering language. How did she discover words? ``Girl, Interrupted'' is also a work that depicts the process of ``the birth of a writer'' called Susanna Kaysen.

"I can't help you understand. But I do understand the feeling of wanting to die. The pain of smiling, the pain of not being able to do well. The feeling of hurting your body to erase the pain in your heart."

Susannah's boyfriend Toby (Jarett Leto) visits the facility and tells him that Susannah is not sick. Toby says there's no standard for "normal." This is because the standards of "normal" change over time. Toby is set to go to war, and the television news reports that Dr. King has been shot. People are on the verge of despair over social unrest in America. Lisa is watching news footage of Disney World, which is being built in Florida, in the middle of the night. Polly, whose face is burned, laments that no one will kiss her, and after a commotion, she is isolated.

Gradually picking up a guitar, Susannah sings Petula Clark's hit song "Downtown" with Lisa, comforting Polly through the door. Their singing voices echo through the hallways of the hospital at night. In this scene, where the dullness of the singing voice evokes emotion, the psychiatric ward seems more like a protected and safe world than the crazy world outside.

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