Drama based on a true story, starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. New England, 1967: in her late teens Susanna Kaysen is persuaded to check into Claymore psychiatric hospital. There she strikes up associations with several of her fellow patients - including Lisa, a charismatic sociopath.
This commendable but lightweight drama from director/co-writer James Mangold has a similar agenda to Milos Forman's classic One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, but it never reaches the same peaks of poignancy. Winona Ryder stars as the teen who is shipped off to a New England psychiatric institution in 1967, where other inmates give her a new perspective on life. The film is extremely well cast, with Oscar winner Angelina Jolie mesmerising as a pushy, pouting troublemaker, and Whoopi Goldberg good value as a no-nonsense nurse, while Mangold makes clever use of jarring narrative cuts to convey Ryder's confused state of mind. Yet there's a definite feeling the producers were hoping to set off brighter emotional fireworks than this well-intentioned movie actually provides.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Susanna Kaysen | Winona Ryder |
| Lisa | Angelina Jolie |
| Daisy | Brittany Murphy |
| Georgina | Clea DuVall |
| Valerie | Whoopi Goldberg |
| Dr Potts | Jeffrey Tambor |
| Tobias Jacobs | Jared Leto |
| Dr Wick | Vanessa Redgrave |
| Mrs Gilcrest | Mary Kay Place |
| Dr Crumble | Kurtwood Smith |
| Polly "Torch" Clark | Elisabeth Moss |
| Annette Kaysen | Joanna Kerns |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | James Mangold |
