GIRLS, INTERRUPTED

Goin’ Crazy: Six Fabulously Fragile Film Femmes

In Virginia, the new film from Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly plays a single mom with a none-too-firm grasp on reality. Her idea for getting away from the washed-up resort town she’s stuck in? Faking a pregnancy and robbing a bank in a gorilla mask. Virginia is a marked departure for Connelly—and not just because her trademark raven locks are bottle-blond yellow. But she tackles the role with aplomb.

We decided to take a look back at some other movies featuring female characters with mental-health issues. They’re all iconic for one reason for another, and they all receive major attention during award season. (Hint hint!)

Click through to meet our favorite unhinged divas!

 

 




Francis
Jessica Lange nabbed her first Oscar nomination for playing real-life tragic actress Frances Farmer, a strong-willed but controverisal actress who was unwillingly institutionalized and eventually lobotomized.

 

http://youtu.be/PypMOEKJuh8

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
This Spanish farce from Pedro Almodovar was another Oscar nominee—this time for Best Foreign-Language Film.  It’s a mad marathon of flying answering machines, drug-spiked gazpacho, manic voice-over actresses, botched suicides, Arab terrorists and schizophrenic ex-girlfriends.

 

http://youtu.be/5jaI1XOB-bs

Black Swan
Natalie Portman won Best Actress for playing, Nina, a high-strung prima ballerina who thinks she’s being sabotaged by lookalike —or maybe she’s just completely bonkers. Either way, it doesn’t end well.

 

 

http://youtu.be/j-WAjKyHecs

Sybil
In 1976 Sally Field confounded audiences who knew her from Gidget or The Flying Nun when she took on the role of a meek grade-school teacher suffering from disassociative-identity disorder and plagued by 13 separate personalities. Based on a true story, the TV movie landed Field an Emmy Award and newfound respect.

 

http://youtu.be/5BHHUBZf7y4

Girl, Interrupted
This 1999 drama sees Winona Ryder as a fragile teen with borderline-personality disorder who bonds with the girls she meets in her mental-hospital ward. Angelina Jolie made her mark—and snagged a Best Supporting Actress Oscar—as the sociopathic Lisa.

 

http://youtu.be/HBPwPIqYXtg

Suddenly, Last Summer
Sometimes our heroine isn’t crazy—it’d just be more convenient if people thought she was: In this Tennessee Williams adaptation from 1959,  Elizabeth Taylor plays a woman defending her sanity against her sadistic aunt Violet (Katharine Hepburn)—both of whom helped “procure” young boys for creepy Sebastian Venable. Both actresses were nominated for Oscars.

 

 

 

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