Don't believe Kaysen's lies.

Rating: 3/10 (2 January 2011)

I'm really frustrated with this film, because I want to know more about this woman, and I feel like I'm being lied to in a number of ways. I don't believe Susanna Kaysen tells the truth about herself, and she's admitted as much in interviews. Furthermore, she seems like the kind of person who easily believes her own lies. I also feel like I'm being lied to by her publishers and by feminists who seem to want to "sanitize" the details of her life.
The film Girl, Interrupted was, in my opinion, not terrible, but certainly not great. Angelina Jolie acted like everyone's favorite stereotype of a mentally ill woman. I've never been in a posh hospital like McLean, but I have been in other hospitals, including a state hospital, teaching hospitals, and private hospitals. I've seen mentally ill women, and none of them have looked or acted like Angelina. I'm not talking about her purported "beauty"; I'm just saying that a young woman like that would look way older than her years.
None of the film rang true to me, and I don't want to read the book, because I don't think Kaysen is a reliable narrator. I simply can't suspend disbelief that easily.
I agree with those who believe that Kaysen couldn't possibly have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, because it was just a theory until it became an official diagnosis in 1980 with the release of the DSM-III.
I don't have a grudge against her, because I believe she is legitimately very ill. From what I've read in interviews, she is meanspirited, arrogant, and ungrateful. She tends to use crude language when it's not called for, and her witticisms are either disturbing or simply not funny. I'd just like to find some truth about this woman, and I've tried to find it, but I've come up empty. From what I've found, she's a feminist icon, a genius, and a great writer. I only agree that she's a feminist icon. I would think that someone like Hillary Rodham Clinton would be a more suitable role model, but what the hell do I know? I have a penis.
I don't understand the reviewers who believe that there was nothing wrong with Susanna Kaysen. You've believed her lies. One thing I've learned about people with personality disorders is that they always lie more than the average person, and the average person lies a lot.
Speaking of average people, whoever said that Susanna Kaysen was an average teenager was woefully misinformed. She was born into a family of wealthy and politically influential academics. Her father was an adviser to President Kennedy.