Girls Trying to Tell Us Something

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2013)

This is my second viewing, having watched this film when it first came out. So...by now, the careers of Ryder, Jolie, Duvall, Moss, and the late Murphy have all processed through the Hollywood machine, and the only ones left standing are: Jolie, Duvall, and Moss. So this time when I watched this film, I saw something different in Ryder and Jolie. And what I saw was that they had been perfectly cast as themselves. Ryder looked overworked, underweight, and tired. Jolie appeared flippant about serious underlying rage, and slipped in and out of extreme emotions as she tore a path of destruction behind her with all those she vented onto.
Somehow, this didn't seem to be a stretch for either of the actors because based on what I've read about Ryder, she was suffering from extreme fatigue and exhaustion; and Jolie spent several years in the tabloids proving how an angry teenager turns into a crazy young adult who likes to do shocking things for attention. Wow. And she received awards for this. Nonetheless, the cast was very good, and the general tone of the movie was captivating and realistic while maintaining its value as ENTERTAINMENT, for all those reviewers who believe art should imitate the true grit of life. No, please. That's why we like films. Because they give us something to look forward to next time; because they allow the viewer to escape for awhile.
It's very difficult to put all the details of one person's descent into mental illness into a one-and-a-half-hour of time, as anyone knows who watched A Beautiful Mind. So good job to the screenwriter and the director. This film is cleverly written, acted, directed, and produced because it slowly, imperceptibly, and progressively makes the mental institution appear safer than the world outside; which is illustrated toward the end of the film when the kind nurse played by Whoopi Goldberg tells Ryder's character not to "drop anchor" there. And while some reviewers have remarked that Ryder's character seemed self-indulgent, spoiled, and simply struggling with non-conformity, Ryder's character articulated the grim reality of her own mental illness when she painfully admitted to Jared Leto's character that she tried to kill herself by taking a bottle of aspirin; which was a complete departure from the character's denial when she was first admitted to the institution. When confronted with the opportunity to be free, Susanna was also confronted with a choice to be honest or stay stuck in denial.
My favorite scene was the scene where Susanna and her parents were having a conference with the doctor played by Jeffrey Tambor, and Susanna's mother couldn't stop crying, while Susanna's father was loudly demanding to know how long his daughter would be in "this place?" Then Susanna asked if her disease was genetic, and both parents halted their self-absorbed behaviors for 1 second to hear the answer before resuming their own brand of insanity. This scene told the viewer everything they needed to know about why Susanna felt depressed. Who would have anything to look forward to at 18 years of age when they had already realized how pretentious the adult world is? And what a kid has to become in order to "fit in?"
Oh yes, these girls were trying to tell us something, and here it is: children like to pretend, and as children grow up they're told by adults to stop pretending and face reality. So whose reality are they supposed to be facing, when they see that all the adults they should be able to trust are pretending? or plain lying? That realization could cause a girl (or a boy) to be interrupted in the transition from child to adult. Thus, the title and the ensuing madness.
Jolie can emote, that's for certain. Ryder can look fragile without effort because she has the physicality for it. That said, she's a talented actress and I miss watching her. Murphy was awesome, bless her little soul. Would've liked to have seen more of Redgrave, but then, Redgrave is so much more interesting than the others, so her screen presence had to be limited. Goldberg played Goldberg. And that's not to diminish the energy that is called Whoopi. No matter the role, Whoopi Goldberg comes across as down to earth, honest, no pretext.
A good film if you want to feel understood.