Prozac Nation

Plot synopsis:
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wurtzel is a 19-year-old accepted into Harvard with a scholarship in journalism. She has been raised by her divorced mother since she was two years old and hasn't seen her father at all in the last four years. Despite his lack of interest and involvement, Lizzie still misses her father, a contributing factor to her depression. Through a series of flashbacks, it is clear that there was a total communication breakdown between Lizzie's parents, which is soon reflected in Lizzie's own relationship with her mother.
Soon after arriving at Harvard, Lizzie decides to lose her virginity to an older student, Noah. Lizzie proceeds to alienate Noah by throwing a loss-of-virginity party immediately afterwards with the help of her roommate Ruby. Although best friends in the beginning, Ruby soon becomes another casualty of Lizzie's instability. Although Lizzie's article for the local music column in The Harvard Crimson is presented an award by Rolling Stone early into the semester, Lizzie soon finds herself unable to write, stuck in a vicious cycle with substance abuse.
Lizzie's promising literary career is at risk, as is her mental and physical health. Her mother sends her to expensive psychiatric sessions toward which her father, pleading poverty, implacably refuses to contribute anything at all. After a long period of treatment under medication and a suicidal gesture, Lizzie stabilizes and begins to adjust to her life as it really is.

Tags: psychological, flashback

Review:
I think I should start by stating that I was hungry for this film, the book Prozac Nation, which chronicles Elizabeth Wurtzel's battle with depression, meant so much to me and each delay to the film (and there were many) only served to increase my desire to see it.
The performances, from a cast that includes Jessica Lange and Anne Heche, are solid (although somewhat unfairly Jason Biggs will always be the guy who humped the pie in my eyes) and in the case of Christina Ricci, who played Wurtzel herself, exceptional, the soundtrack's cool (well it does include The Pretenders, Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen after all) and if you haven't read the book you'll probably like, maybe even love, it.
The film sucks out all the depth that made the book so brilliant and so important to millions, for example, instead of being a emotionally messed up young woman who fears abandonment and uses sex and anger as defence mechanisms, Wurtzel becomes a bitchy, whiny slut who is difficult to relate to or feel sympathy for.
Furthermore the time constraints lead the film to focus solely on the Harvard years cutting out the important childhood/teen years and leading to a resolution which occurs far to early making depression seem like a problem which can be solved within a year.
well if you're one of those rare creatures that would answer with a 'no' then watch this movie you'll understand how hard is get out of a bed when you are depressed, how hard is to find a reason to live and why you just can't explain the way you feel.
there's also issues that actually affect our youngsters this days, and changes during the movies, the Part that Jonathan Rhys Meyers has here is small and looks like non important at all but it is, he's crucial for the whole story to be told, shows the difference between a depression patient and just a messed up kid.
The movie obviously compressed a lot of details in the book, but I think if it had just focused on the main crisis of the book, the character's descent into depression would have been easier to understand and empathize.
As it was, it tried to do that, but it also tried to cram in other things, and I feel that if I hadn't read the book or gone through something similar myself, I would not have understood why Lizzie was so afflicted at this particular point in her life.I thought the acting was excellent: Michelle Williams and Jason Biggs were great, and Christina Ricci was phenomenal, capturing the entire range of the pain and anger and self-loathing of depression.
I thought Jessica Lange put in a good performance, although her bizarre accent and the fact that she in no way resembles the darker and petite Christina Ricci was really distracting.
Or, if you've suffered from severe depression, then watch it and know that there are other people who feel the same way you do and think the same thoughts as you, and who would understand why you feel and act the way you do.
I liked this movie so much that I can't wait to read the book when I find it (the film is based on the novel of the same name).The movie tells the true story of Elizabeth Wurtzel (played by the beautiful Christina Ricci)and her battle with depression.
And aside from her character in the film, Christina Ricci herself was beautiful; her gorgeous nude body is shown at the beginning of the movie!
I believe Erik Skjoldbjærg holds the record for most 'J's in a director's name, but apart from that, he also shows good restraint and a keen eye for narrative and detail in helming 'Prozac Nation.' Basically a period piece set in the mid 80's, the film relates the collegiate memoirs of Elizabeth Wurtzel, who now writes a music column for The New Yorker.
This film is about a young first year Harvard student's life with depression and personality problems.Christina Ricci's acting is superb in this film.
The scene with her arguing about the medical bills with Christina Ricci is amazing, they both displays brilliant acting skills.The film is not bad at all, it was a pity that it did not receive a theatrical release..
"Prozac Nation" is a case study of clinical depression with Ricci as a Harvard frosh trying to cope with her own identity crisis, poor self esteem, and uncontrollable mood swings; the expectations of an over-compensating divorced mother; the absenteeism of a shallow father; and the sincerity of a love she can't believe is real.
The film does a good job of accurately representing the destructive influences of the disease of depression in spite murky flashbacks, a hazy narration by Ricci, and a melodramatic and contrived feel.
A showcase for Ricci, who meets the demands of her role, this film's lukewarm reception may have more to do with the lack of understanding of the Jekyll-Hyde nature of the depressed person than a poor presentation of the character.
So as soon as I could I rushed to the theater to see Prozac Nation.The movie's plot is very simple but at the same time very complex, Lizzie played by the beautiful and talented Christina Ricci is a depressed girl.
When her all-night, drug-fueled writing binges and emotional instability alienate her roommate and best friend, Ruby (Michelle Williams), as well as both her first (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and second (Jason Biggs) boyfriends, Lizzie seeks psychiatric counseling from Dr. Diana Sterling (Anne Heche), who prescribes the wonder drug Prozac.
But Christina Ricci's acting isn't the highlight of this film, that award goes to Jessica Lange who plays her role like she actually was going though this in real life.
Based on a true story, it is simply about Christina Ricci's character and her struggle with depression, drugs, friends and family as you can probably tell from the title.
I would say there was a dramatic moment every five minutes, and the movie moved through her life extremely fast, and this left no room for us to connect with Christina Ricci's character.
In the moving performance of Christina Ricci as Liz Wurtzel, the film portrays a young woman with unlimited potential as a Harvard student and as a writer.
No light was shed on what the film alleged to be a runaway problem in "The United States of Depression." In the story, Liz had a caring therapist (Anne Heche), a caring roommate (Michele Williams), a caring boyfriend (Jason Biggs), and a troubled but caring parent (Jessica Lange).
You meet a person here, who relates to her mother (good acting by Jessica Lange as well) and her father and her female friend and her boyfriends, but have great difficulty in relating to herself in any possible way.Ricci is an artist already, although being very young.
Christina Ricci plays Wurtzel during her days at the prestigious Harvard University, dealing with sex, drugs and alcohol and forcing her friends and mother (Lange) away through her ongoing battle with depression, most likely founded by her parent's separation.
When her psychiatrist (Heche) prescribes Wurzel with Prozac, she is able to calmly see things from the outside  which eventually turns to anger and frustration when she realises how reliant she is on the drug in order to appear 'normal'.Ricci's performance of Wurtzel was fantastic, as was Lange's performance of her closet-smoking and slightly unhinged mother.
After a long period of treatment under medications, and an attempt of suicide, Lizzie stabilizes and adjusts to the real word."Prozac Nation" is a successful book that I have never read (and I do not have the intention), but the movie is a complete deception.
no way any man could live with such woman(with kids or without).Jessica Lange is PERFECTLLY cast here and a good actress exactly because she is able to show the mother's flaws in details and very subtle at times)))4- i found Christina Ricci "flash" in the first scene as a pure commercial attempt in catching the viewers attention and teasing him that there could be more.
Granted, Christina Ricci and Jessica Lange both give knockout performances, as anyone trying to reenact situations like these should be required for full effect, the excesses of cinematic trickery, crying and screaming and cursing, sex, boozing, and soon enough, drugs of all sorts, become a neurotic display of self-indulgence, something only tolerable for so long.
I realise that no film can be as good as the book, but this is one of those movies that really makes a bad job.
Ricci does a ok job but i feel the part was too big for her, with a movie like this i understand that the actress needs a large free reign, but the script really lets her down.
Instead of illuminating the darkness within or offering insight into mental illness, this film makes you feel that the main character, Lizzie (played by Christina Ricci) simply needs to be spanked.
I read the book 'Prozac Nation' by Elizabeth Wurtzel as a depressed, medicated teen and found myself watching the film as a reformed, non-depressed adult.
This movie does not educate about Prozac (and its sisters Xanax, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, etc.).Now, about the movie itself, I like Christina Ricci and Anne Heche, love Jessica Lange, so I enjoyed the actors but this is not a movie I would recommend to anyone for entertainment or enjoyment, but I think someone who is going through a lot of depression and still dealing with it might like to watch it just for that good old "misery loves company" feeling.
The premise of a story reads like a Brent Easton Ellis novel - a lot of drugs, hopelessness and self-induced tragedy as a young Elisabeth Wurtzel (played by Christina Ricci) tries to cope with being a suicidal loser, that can't seem to accept that she is actually living a good life and that basically she is pathetic for being such a baby...
The director apparently was on Prozac when directing this imitation of a movie and hence let the movie go on autopilot making it an unbearable mess.The only redeeming features are a sympathetic Jason Biggs, as Wurtzel's boyfriend (who thankfully decided to dump the self-indulgent egocentric egomaniac) and an unbelievably good Jessica Lange as the cry-babies mother.
Pure class.I don't know if this is really who Wurtzel is or was, but the film has successfully made me totally uninterested in her writings.In the end I finished watching this movie and instantly started to think: OK.
Film-version of Elizabeth Wurtzel's memoir about a turbulent young woman's life turned around by the anti-depressant Prozac wants to have it both ways: to be a finger-wagging diatribe on the perils of curing mental or emotional instability with drugs AND an exaltation of Wurtzel herself, who took Prozac--and got a best-seller out of it in the bargain!
Christina Ricci plays Wurtzel as a first-year student at Harvard, full of journalistic promise but quickly hitting a writer's block and alienating all of her classmates; her love-hate relationships with her mother and her absentee-father also extend to that of her romantic prospects, and pretty soon Ricci is in therapy with Anne Heche (in the thankless role of a pensively concerned doctor with a sensible hairdo).
Unfortunately, many well-intentioned movies covering this sort of subject do but I thought I ought to give it a try.Starting out with Elizabeth's (Ricci) mother, Jessica Lange, getting her daughter prepared for Harvard, where of course, Elizabeth is thrown into the usual round of new friends - and losing her virginity, to dishy Jonathan Rhys Meyer, then Jewish boyfriend Jason Biggs and flashbacks to an absent father.
I probably saw more of Christina that I would have seen in the other movie anyway.I have to say that she was really incredible and entirely believable as someone who is going through depression, and trying to get off the pills, but finally coming to the realization that you will probably never get rid of them totally.
While Jessica Lange plays the overburdened mother who would sacrifice her life, her safety, and her comfort for her daughter, Christina Ricci plays a selfish self centered girl.Both Lange and Ricci give compelling performances, however the script tends to gloss over the damage generated by someone in the state of mind of the character Wurtzel.
At once the film condemns and praises the use of anti-depressant drugs as the panacea of modern life.My concern by this film is that it would provide a guide and an excuse to other young women who create a fantasy world of problems despite living an otherwise highly desirable lifestyle.I never read the book nor do I intend to, but if this movie is true to the tone of the book we bear witness to someone who is completely selfish and self destructive as a form of manipulation.
Christina Ricci stars as Elisabeth Wurtzel, a young woman heading for a good life in Harvard, but stumbles when realizes how hard it is to be everything that others expect from you.
Prozac nation isn't a failure of any kind (or a bad film) but rather an experiment that could have had better results, if someone actually had sit down and thought what is depression because clearly no one did but at least the director had some idea of what it looks like and how you can explore it.
Prozac Nation veers dangerously close to being a truly terrible movie but it is saved from that fate by the performance of the film's star, Christina Ricci.
That probably is the reason why mostly only persons who have suffered from a depression- or are still in the middle of one, still like watching this movie.
I thought the performances were really strong, particularly those by Christina Ricci and Jessica Lange (who as always, can be understated or emotional with such brilliance).I thought the story was wonderful too, and having gone through the same thing in my teens, this movie really struck a nerve with me...it hit very close to home.
About the actors: Christina Ricci gave depression a face in the movie, just like Elizabeth Wurtzel did in the novel.
This movie takes a serious look at a young woman, Elizabeth Wurtzel (Christina Ricci), on her way to Harvard.
Christina Ricci imparts humanity to the often-annoying behavior of Elizabeth Wurtzel, a Harvard scholarship writer with an overbearing mother (played sublimely by Jessica Lange).
She was very needed, which ran Rafe off, but she was like that because of her dad.But, I think the main reason this movie never achieved a theater release is that not enough happens with the plot and the story is not written well.FINAL VERDICT: Truthfully, I'd only recommend this if you are interested in seeing Ricci's first nude scene.
Prozac Nation is a well-directed movie featuring particularly strong performances from its star Christina Ricci, and Jessica Lange, who plays Ricci's mother; it is, however, an almost totally joyless experience, charting the mental problems suffered by promising journalism student Lizzie (Ricci), whose troubled childhood, and subsequent substance abuse, has left her with a severe case of depression.
Watching Lizzie slowly become more paranoid, obsessive, and self-destructive, driving away those who love her in the process, is far from fun viewing, and I strongly recommend that those suffering from depression themselves give this film a wide berth.I know I should have stopped watching straight after Ricci's nude scene (the only bit in the film to put a smile on my face).Being such a downer of a movie, albeit a well made one, Prozac Nation is hard to rate, so I'll take the easy way out and give it 5/10..
That said, being as I don't know how it is I need to say that this movie is a great piece of work (I just found out that is based on a book)because of two things: first, it informs people who aren't familiar with the issue of depression, because a lot of people don't understand it...they want to fix people and are just frustrated that depressed people ''don't know what bothers them.'' Ricci's portrayal was in my opinion extraordinary..I think as I watched I just felt her pain and there were moments when I wanted to scream with her, to feel uncomfortable in my own skin.
And second, I think that it is a great movie for people struggling with depression, because it kind of shows them that they are not alone, and things get better.
I'm sure you don't need to hear about me so I'll tell you this...if you really want to know what it's like to be someone with "depression" or if you wanna drop a few hints to that friend of yours...this is the perfect film to watch.
The film contains two spectacularly brilliant lead performances, one by the 20 year-old Christina Ricci as Elizabeth Wurtzel, and the other by Jessica Lange as her mother.
No time to feel sympathy whatsoever.So I guess, in that way, the film failed to offer an insight, but rather to show what it's like to be a friend or family member of a depressive.
The book which was written by Elizabeth Wurtzel herself and is her life story, shows more sympathy for her than in the movie.
Prozac Nation, however, left me scratching my head, wondering how Jessica Lange and Christina Ricci could both give such bad performances.
Congratulations to Christina Ricci for making this movie and putting her mojo behind this important subject and trying to make a great film.
I think you have to know someone that behaves like Christina Ricci's character in this movie in order to appreciate the reality of the performance.
But that is NOT the reason to see "Prozac Nation." About 20 when it was filmed, Ricci is in the role of Elizabeth Wurtzel, whose autobiography forms the basis for this movie.