What I Watched -- Girl, Interrupted

If you've ever been curious about mental instability in girls, Girl, Interrupted is for you. The movie is based on the true story of Susanna Kaysen, who spent 18 months at McLean Hospital, where she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

In the movie, Winona Ryder plays Susanna; Angelina Jolie plays Lisa, a sociopath and repeat runaway from the hospital. Lisa antagonizes everyone in the institution, including Susanna. She unabashedly shouts out their true problems to the world, no sugar coating allowed.

It is through her relationship (such as it is) with Lisa that Susanna is finally able to face her demons. To my mind, the most interesting scene in the movie is one of the last. -- SPOILER ALERT -- It's the night before Susanna is going to be released. Lisa steals Susanna's diary, in which she's written her true thoughts about Lisa and the other girls in the hospital, and reads it aloud. When Lisa and Susanna confront each other, Lisa screams and begs and wonders why no one will ever tell her what her problem is, after all these years that she has spent telling other girls what their problems are. So Susanna does. She screams back at Lisa, acting toward her exactly the way Lisa had done to all the others.

The next day, Susanna is released from the hospital, and Lisa lies strapped to a bed, wearing a hospital gown. But the question I had was this: The two girls seem totally different throughout the movie. Lisa constantly appears to be totally out of control. She acts out physically and verbally. Susanna is a writer. Her battles happen inside her head and in her diary. But in the end, are they really all that different?