memoir
by American
author Susanna Kaysen
, relating her experiences as a young woman in a psychiatric hospital
in the 1960s after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder
. The memoir's title is a reference to the Vermeer painting Girl Interrupted at her Music
.
While writing the novel Far Afield, Kaysen began to recall her almost two years at McLean Hospital
. She obtained her file from the hospital with the help of a lawyer.
In 1999, the memoir was adapted into a film of the same name
starring Winona Ryder
and Angelina Jolie
.
[narrating] Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train was moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the '60's. Or maybe I was just a girl... interrupted.
[to Lisa] I've wasted a year of my life here. Maybe everyone out there is a liar. And maybe the whole world is stupid and ignorant. But I'd rather be in it. I'd rather be fucking in it, than down here with you.
[narrating] Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is... Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever. They we're not perfect, but they were my friends and by the '70s, most of them were out living lives. Some I've seen, some never again, but there isn't a day my heart doesn't find them.
[to Susanna] You think you're free? I'm free! You don't know what freedom is! I'm free! I can breathe! And you - you're gonna go choke on your average fuckin' mediocre life!
[Southern accent] Razors pain you, Rivers are damp / Acid stains you, Drugs cause cramp / Guns aren't lawful, Nooses give / Gas smells awful, Ya might as well live.
Based on a true story.
The crazy thing is, you're not crazy.
Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.