Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… unhappily. Since Lisa doesn't like to talk about her it, most of her past is shrouded in mystery. However, wherever she grew up, one thing is sure: she didn't have a good relationship with her parents.
Living… the queen of Claymore Hospital, a mental institution that's been her home for the past eight years. Being hospitalized for almost a decade has made her into somewhat of the Alpha patient at Claymore, and it is not smart to make her angry.
Profession… causing trouble. Diagnosed as a sociopath, Lisa establishes her place at the top of Claymore's food chain by acting as its resident bully. She can be incredibly cruel, and since most of the people at Claymore aren't exactly psychologically stable to begin with, Lisa is a pro at getting under their skin.
Interests… skipping meds, making trouble, and manipulating her fellow patients. Lisa will do anything to get what she wants, and she's been known to seduce guards to stop them from telling on her.
Relationship Status… single, but forming a bond with her new roommate, Susanna. Although the two have a rocky start, Lisa quickly warms up to Susanna, who idolizes her rebellious, cool roommate. It's clear that the two of them love each other, but it's less clear whether they're doing each other more good than bad.
Challenge… avoiding therapy and getting Susanna to do it, too. It's not a hard task – Susanna shares Lisa's disdain for Claymore, and she's quick to do whatever Lisa is doing. But in all her years at Claymore, Lisa doesn't seem to have considered if, perhaps, complying with therapy might actually be better than fighting it.
Personality… cruel, fickle, and manipulative. While her charisma makes Lisa a role model to many patients, she can turn on her friend in a second. At one point she screams at Susanna, "You think you're free? I'm free! You don't know what freedom is! I'm free. I can breathe. And you... will choke on your average f-n' mediocre life!"
Get to Know her in...
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Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Girl Interrupted is the searing true story of Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder), a young woman who finds herself at a renowned mental institution for troubled young women, where she must choose between the world of people who belong on the inside—like the seductive and dangerous Lisa (Angelina Jolie)—or the often difficult world of reality on the outside.
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In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. She spent most of the next two years in the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital as renowned for its famous clientele—Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles—as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers.
