Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted has built a devoted audience in Australia on Netflix and Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel, and in the US on Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel among viewers who want their drama to earn its emotional beats. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. With 4,194 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Watch it for Winona Ryder — one of the stronger performances out there right now. Available now on Netflix — press play and find out why people keep recommending it.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, Girl, Interrupted is worth clearing space for. Girl, Interrupted trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside. Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. Girl, Interrupted came out in 1999. Girl, Interrupted resists tidy resolutions in a way that respects how messy real consequences actually are. It rarely drops the ball, and when it does, it recovers fast.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, Girl, Interrupted delivers. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Winona Ryder is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.