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Susanna Kaysen
Susanna Kaysen
Played By: Winona Ryder
The sullen, withdrawn protagonist of Girl, Interrupted. She has borderline personality disorder and is prone to rash decisions, particularly under the influence of one Lisa Rowe.
- Age-Gap Romance: Not precisely, as it's not a romance, but Susanna is mentioned to have slept with a college professor at least twice her age. Played for Drama, especially considering the fact that he has a wife, who furiously confronts Susanna when she’s out getting ice cream.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Played straight. She's stoic, withdrawn and doesn't seem too keen on making friends.
- Book Dumb: Maybe. Though her academic performance isn’t commented upon, she’s shown as not having as clear of a grasp on her future as her friends (something that contributed to her admission to McLean).
- Boyish Short Hair: Her dark hair is groomed in this manner, as was Susanna Kaysen's in real life.
- The Cynic: Given what we see from her visits to her therapist’s office, her outlook on life appears to be pessimistic at best.
- Deadpan Snarker: Of course, as best shown in this deleted scene from the trailer:Dr. Wick: Is there something about sex which lifts your feelings of despair?Susanna: Have you ever had sex?
- Downfall by Sex: Played with. Though her psychiatrist does cite promiscuity as one of the reasons for her admission, it's implied to be nothing but good old-fashioned 1960's misogyny.
- Good Bad Girl: She admits to being more sexually open than the average 60's girl, but is consistently portrayed as a good person nonetheless.
- Fish out of Water: A withdrawn Naïve Everygirl admitted into a psychiatric hospital with liars, sociopaths and shy girls with very specific diets. Figure the rest out for yourself.´
- Interrupted Intimacy: Played for Laughs. She attempts to initiate oral sex with Toby in her before a nurse interrupts their moment for a mandatory check.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Played with. She’s definitely unstable in her own right, but she’s shown to be a lot less erratic than most of the girls at McLean
- Nice Girl: Played with. She doesn't appear to be too mean at the beginning, but she gets a lot crueler as the film progresses. She ends up apologizing, though, at least to Lisa and Valerie.
- Parental Issues: It's implied that she doesn't have the best relationship with her parents, as they both refuse to escort her to McLean once she's admitted.
- Really Gets Around: Played with. Her psychiatrist condescends her and treats her as if she does, but the number isn't that big according to Susanna herself. We never get to find out just how many men she's slept with.
- Unkempt Beauty: Considering the fact that she's played by Winona Ryder, it's hard to make her look too bad, even with the harsh conditions of McLean Psychiatric Hospital.
Lisa Rowe
Lisa Rowe
Played By: Angelina Jolie
An Ax-Crazy sociopath and Susanna Kaysen's Vitriolic Best Bud. Though her diagnosis indicates that she lacks empathy, she is shown to care about a few others to some degree.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Played with. Most of her characterization from the book is still intact, but the real Lisa wasn't even in the room for Daisy's suicide.
- Aimlessly Seeking Happiness: Implied to be the reasoning behind her unempathetic The Gadfly demeanor, as someone who's spent eight years in a psychiatric ward is likely to be deeply unhappy inside.
- All Psychology Is Freudian: She appears to believe this, which might be a contributing factor to her distaste for therapy and hospitals.
- Alpha Bitch: Of course, she is this, at least in the context of the McLean psychiatric ward.
- Ambiguously Bi: She kisses Susanna upon running away with her, but it's unclear whether it's simple teenage recklessness or a sign of a growing attraction.
- Babies Ever After: As per the epilogue of the book, she's married, and has a child who she appears to genuinely love.
- Broken Bird: Underneath her harsh exterior, she is this, as shown when she breaks down in front of Susanna about her increasingly dysfunctional home life.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being a diagnosed sociopath (meaning she shouldn't feel empathy for anyone), Lisa appears to have genuine affection for Susanna and - to a lesser extent - a struggling Polly Clark.
- The Gadfly: Though she's a darker example than most, considering that her insistent prodding ends up driving Daisy suicide. Playedfor Drama.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Averted. She's a spiteful and manipulative Alpha Bitch and, as shown in the scene where she slowly pushes Daisy to suicide, she's rotten to the core.
- The Hedonist: Played with. Though the film indicates that she's a deeply unhappy person, Lisa isn't opposed to looking for fun where she can find it.
- Hidden Depths:
- It's mentioned that she's been at McLean for over eight years, most likely due to some very serious mental health issues (though whether she's actually a sociopath is up in the air).
- Her dream job is being Cinderella at Disneyland, a surprisingly sweet and innocent choice for such an angry, sardonic person.
- Precision F-Strike: To Daisy in what ends up being their final argument:Lisa: "Everybody knows that he fucks you. What they don't know... is that you like it. You like it."
- Lack of Empathy: Played straight, at least presuming that her sociopath diagnosis is correct. But she does appear to have some affection for Susanna. Of course, liking someone isn't the same as truly empathizing with them.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Another girl - Lisa Cody - shares her first name.
- Self-Harm: In an argument, Daisy lets slip that Lisa dabbles in this, as she allegedly has noticeably scars on her arm.
- The Sociopath: Quite literally (or, at least, she's diagnosed as such).
- Toxic Friend Influence: On most people she interacts with, but most notably Susanna (as their friendship causes her to literally try to run away from a psychiatric hospital).
Daisy Randone
Daisy Randone
Played By: Brittany Murphy
A withdrawn, flighty girl with a strange eating disorder and a disturbing relationship to her family.
- Berserk Button: People going inside her room without her consent. That being said, Susanna does manage to trade a couple of Colace for access.
- Broken Bird: It's implied that she went through this after her father's sexual abuse.
- Lisa's tirade against her seems to have turned her into this, as well.
- Control Freak: Not precisely, but she has tendencies that could possibly be categorized as some form of OCD.
- Creepy Loner Girl: Daisy appears to be this at first, as a rude Deadpan Snarker who's barely shown to leave her room. But she quickly develops into a central character of the film.
- Daddy's Girl: She appears to be rather close to her father, to the point where his rotisserie chickens are the only things she eats. That being said, this is a darker version that most considering that it's heavily implied that he abuses her sexually.
- Does Not Like Spam: Daisy takes this to the point of having an honest-to-God eating disorder, as she refuses to eat anything but her father's chickens.
- Domestic Abuse: It's all but confirmed that her father sexually and emotionally abuses her.
- Ending by Ascending: The last time we see Daisy, she's heading up the stairs into a bright white light.
- Driven to Suicide: Played with. She goes up to her room and hangs herself after Lisa blames her for being sexually abused, but it's implied that she was planning the suicide for quite some time.
- Good Is Not Soft: Though she's a little abrasive to the other girls (and she once called Susanna a bitch), nobody can argue that she's a bad person, especially once you figure out what she's been through.
- Parental Incest: It's strongly implied that she has an incestuous relationship with her father, and that this is the cause of her declining mental health.
Polly Clark
Polly "Torch" Clark
Played By: Elisabeth Moss
A depressed redhead with visible burn marks on her face. Often the butt of Lisa's cruel jokes.
- Covered with Scars: Of course, she is this, but she has a complete mental breakdown after seeing her scars for the first time.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Played with. Lisa often refers to her as "Torch", but to her credit, Polly doesn't seem to mind.
- I Was Quite a Looker: We don't know this for sure, but she does seem to be very disenheartened upon seeing her burn marks in the mirror.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: It's presumed that "Polly" is short for something else (Paulina? Polina?), but we never get to find out for sure.
- The Pollyanna: Aside from her breakdown when she sees her burn scars, she appears to be a bubbly and upbeat girl given her circumstances.
- Redheads Are Uncool: She's the only main character with bright red hair, as well as being the Butt-Monkey of most of Lisa's sadistic jokes.
Janet Webber
Janet Webber
Played By: Angela Bettis
A young ballet dancer struggling with anorexia nervosa. Has a nervous manner and a dainty physique.
- Dainty Little Ballet Dancers: She's an adept dancer who's suffering from anorexia (and has a frail, emaciated figure at that).
- Weight Woe: Upon Daisy's release from McLean, she has a mental breakdown about her own psychiatric confinement, tearfully declaring that "74 [pounds] is the perfect weight".
Georgina Tuskin
Georgina Tuskin
Played By: Clea DuVall
Susanna's Nice Girl roommate and an alleged pathological liar.
- Blatant Lies: Of course, given the fact that she's a pathological liar.
- Consummate Liar: She admits to being a pathological liar in a conversation with Susanna.
- Hidden Depths: She is easily overcome with emotion when watching The Wizard of Oz, indicating a softer personality than her diagnosis would suggest.
- Nice Girl: Dishonestly aside, she's nice to Susanna, and generally appears to be a pretty sweet kid.
