Prozac Nation Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
young and depressed in america
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wurtzel is a teenager accepted into Harvard with a scholarship in journalism. She has been raised by her divorced mother Mrs. Wurtzel since she was two years old, but she misses her father and feels needy and depressive. When she joins the university, she lives with a roommate Ruby and has her sexual initiation with Noah. Her article for the local column in Crimson newspaper is awarded by Rolling Stone magazine. Lizzie becomes abusive in sex and drugs, and her existential crisis and depression increases and she hurts her friends and her mother that love her, while dating Rafe. Mrs. Wurtzel sends her to an expensive psychiatric treatment with Dr. Sterling, in spite of having difficulties paying for her medical bills and therapy sessions. After a long period of treatment under medication, and suicide attempt, Lizzie stabilizes and adjusts to the real world.
| Erik Skjoldbjærg |
6.30 out of 10 (4875 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Uppers and Downers
posted on 05 Jun 2009Christina Ricci performs a piece of art here. Theatrical, hysterical, loving and in every second totally natural.This could have been pretentious, but it isn't that at all. You meet a person here, who relates to her mother (good acting by Jessica Lange as well) and her father and her female friend and her boyfriends, but have great difficulty in relating to herself in any possible way.Ricci is an artist already, although being very young. You will hear much more from here in the future.
It was truly amazing
posted on 22 May 2009I have never read the book, now I want to. Seeing this movie really touched me. I cried all the way through it. Living in a small northern town in British Columbia, I've always thought I was alone, fighting a battle that could never be won. Watching this movie, was a sigh of relief. It was like she was telling my story. Many stories. Explaining exactly what it feels like, the demons in my head, the spinning, the realistic, the logical point of view, what we know is real, but what we feel is two different things. She has this brought to life, making sense to the rest of the world what is and isn't wrong with us. I see the news, talk with the people around me, and it seems like everyone has been, or knows someone that has been on anti-depressants. They are not, and will be the quick fix, but between therapy, and anti-depressants, it has saved my life. I have heard many comments about how anti-depressants don't work, and that they are just a quick fix. It takes a lot of hard work, and therapy that goes with anti-depressants to make it work. I totally agree in the film where she said it would help her to be able to see things in a different light. This is truly a wonderful, and amazing film and I'm looking forward to reading the book.
it didn't seem like a complete story
posted on 17 Mar 2009There must have been a lot of background info that was left out of the movie. In fact, in the film, the girl, Lizzy, didn't even appear depressed. She just seemed like a girl that went out of control when she finally got to college, mainly from doing drugs and drinking alcohol. That seemed to be her problem, not mental illness. Sure, she had emotional problems because her dad left and she barely saw him as a child, and her mom seemed a little out there. But, the way she treated Noah and Ruby was just mean and I don't think caused by depression. She was very needed, which ran Rafe off, but she was like that because of her dad.But, I think the main reason this movie never achieved a theater release is that not enough happens with the plot and the story is not written well.FINAL VERDICT: Truthfully, I'd only recommend this if you are interested in seeing Ricci's first nude scene. Otherwise, it isn't very interesting.
"Valley of the Dolls" was a lot more fun...
posted on 19 Feb 2009Film-version of Elizabeth Wurtzel's memoir about a turbulent young woman's life turned around by the anti-depressant Prozac wants to have it both ways: to be a finger-wagging diatribe on the perils of curing mental or emotional instability with drugs AND an exaltation of Wurtzel herself, who took Prozac--and got a best-seller out of it in the bargain! Christina Ricci plays Wurtzel as a first-year student at Harvard, full of journalistic promise but quickly hitting a writer's block and alienating all of her classmates; her love-hate relationships with her mother and her absentee-father also extend to that of her romantic prospects, and pretty soon Ricci is in therapy with Anne Heche (in the thankless role of a pensively concerned doctor with a sensible hairdo). One character's intensely personal journey of self-discovery can quickly congeal on film, alternately seeming like pretentious self-absorption and laughable melodrama, and Ricci as an actress hasn't the magnetism to make her youthful belligerence involving (she alienates the viewer too). All the supporting roles are colorless (everyone is here to initially support Ricci...and then drop her once they are fed up); Jessica Lange, playing Mom as an emotionally unstable hysteric, gets hopeless lines like, "I don't know what else to do" and "I'm at the end of my rope". It's not a varied or interesting character, but viewers can relate with Lange's frustration because we can't reach this girl either. *1/2 from ****
A crappy movie based on a crappy book.
posted on 07 Feb 2009I read the book 'Prozac Nation' by Elizabeth Wurtzel as a depressed, medicated teen and found myself watching the film as a reformed, non-depressed adult. I hated the book when I was younger because I thought the protagonist was a self-important whiner who had no appreciation for the amazing opportunities that were handed to her in life. I hated the movie even more because it brought that obnoxious character to life. Christina Ricci is generally a great actress in my opinion, and she works with the flimsy script (and story) as best she can here, but inevitably just isn't likable in the role. It's too bad the great cast (also Michelle Williams, Jason Biggs, Anne Heche and Jessica Lange) wasn't assembled for a more worthy story. The filmmakers' attempts to depict Liz's "spiraling out of control" with frenetic camera work, sound effects and "voices in her head" are cliché and predictable. In the end, Liz Wurtzel comes across as she does in the book: a self-pitying wannabe poseur who refuses to take responsibility for anything, preferring to blame everything but herself for her "condition."For those who can relate to the protagonist, this movie may be painful to watch. For me, it was painful to watch for a completely different reason.
Worth watching, but missed the mark.
posted on 08 Jan 2009I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. It gets a 6 instead of a 5 for the lovely music.Since this is based on a memoir, I guess we can easily guess why the author disapproved of the film. Like all films, it has to be edited for time and pacing, and thus, the pure accuracy is lost.I don't think it took away from the memoir itself, necessarily. It's faster and straight forward. I think her strong desire for a quick fix drug should have appeared more.I thought I could relate more to the book and film, but I guess I can't. Yes, she comes off as whiny and manipulative in the film, but compared to the book, she is an angel. It seemed to only scratch the surface of depression. No time to feel sympathy whatsoever.So I guess, in that way, the film failed to offer an insight, but rather to show what it's like to be a friend or family member of a depressive. We already know what it's like to be around a depressed person. Even the depressed know that they drive others crazy. There is nothing new here.The cast did a great job. The always-hysterical mother was captured pretty well, I think. They captured most of what was truly important in the memoir, so for having to cut it down to the length of a film, I have to give them credit for keeping the bare elements intact.It lacks clarity, but so does depression. I love the film for its truth, but I hate it for not providing the point of view that it was supposed to. It's on the fence, but worth watching for sure.
Walking Contradiction - The Story of a Spoiled Ungrateful Daughter
posted on 11 Dec 2008Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wurtzel (Christina Ricci) is a teenager accepted in Harvard with a scholarship in journalism. She has been raised by her divorced mother Mrs. Wurtzel (Jessica Lange) since she was two years old, but she misses her father and feels needy and depressive. When she joins the university, she lives with the roommate Ruby (Michelle Williams) and has her sexual initiation with Noah (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), and her article for the local column in Crimson newspaper is awarded by Rolling Stone magazine. Lizzie becomes abusive in sex and drugs, and her existential crisis and depression increases and she hurts her friends and her mother that love her, while dating Rafe (Jason Biggs). Mrs. Wurtzel sends her to an expensive psychiatric treatment with Dr. Sterling (Anne Heche), in spite of having difficulties to pay for her medical bills of her therapy sessions. After a long period of treatment under medications, and an attempt of suicide, Lizzie stabilizes and adjusts to the real word."Prozac Nation" is a successful book that I have never read (and I do not have the intention), but the movie is a complete deception. The direction is good, inclusive with some great sequences with the camera, and Christina Ricci, Jessica Lange and Anne Heche have great performances. Jason Biggs is miscast in a dramatic and romantic character, having a flat performance. The lead character of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wurtzel is unpleasant, and in the movie she is a spoiled ungrateful daughter, confused and contradictory, and does not have motives to have such destructive behavior. I really did not like this boring film. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Geração Prozac" ("Prozac Generation")
Felt very real
posted on 29 Nov 2008I really enjoyed this movie, and as a sufferer of depression I felt that it really portrayed how we can feel about ourselves. I could relate to the main character and the moods she was experiencing, both before and after being on the medication. I think that Jessica Lang may not have been the best choice for the mother, as she seemed a little aged, considering she was portraying someone who had given birth while in college. But that would be the only fault I could find. I found Christina Ricci's performance to be outstanding, and very moving. And it did open my friends eyes to how some people struggle through life with this illness.
Ricci makes it bearable
posted on 20 Oct 2008Prozac Nation veers dangerously close to being a truly terrible movie but it is saved from that fate by the performance of the film's star, Christina Ricci. That's not to say the film ends up being any good but at least it's bearable. Unfortunately a film that is merely bearable is probably not what you're looking for but oh well.Not surprisingly in a movie about depression the whole thing comes off as, well, rather depressing. Ricci's performance as the perpetually depressed Lizzie Wurtzel is a terrific one. Very powerful and very brave as well. But Ricci is really the only thing the film has going for it. Since the entire film revolves around her character Ricci pretty much has to carry the film and she's up to the task. But she can only work with the material she's given and the material simply isn't good enough to make this movie work. As good as Ricci is it is very hard to sympathize with her character as she basically spends the entire film behaving terribly and treating everyone around her like garbage. The rest of the cast doesn't offer much support. Jessica Lange is typically over the top as Lizzie's mother. Anne Heche is bland as can be as Lizzie's psychiatrist. Michelle Williams and Jason Biggs are the most notable remaining names in the cast but neither they nor anyone else is given enough to work with to make much of an impact. It's Ricci's film all the way. Which is good in a way because she's clearly the best thing the film has to offer. But her performance isn't enough as the film falls flat. The movie just never really goes anywhere. Lizzie starts the movie behaving miserably, continues to do so throughout, and by the end you may find yourself wondering what exactly was the point of all this? You may appreciate Ricci's performance but in the end it is impossible to embrace the entirely unpleasant character she plays and rather difficult to embrace the film.
Dazzling performance
posted on 23 Aug 2008Christina Ricci proves herself worthy of top billing as she switches between sweet and frightening in seconds. She steals the movie. Well made, though ends too quickly with a bit to be desired in the end...like what happens next. The supporting cast isn't quite as exceptional, though Jason Biggs proves that he isn't merely a teen comedy actor, he flexes his acting muscles here. Anne Heche is run-of-the-mill, Michelle Williams is great as usual and Rhys-Meyers is basically eye-candy struggling with an American accent. All in all, the the film is powerful and alarming and underrated, definitely worth the time, if not for the nice cinematography in certain places, for Riccis brilliant performance.
Spoiled and selfish
posted on 03 Aug 2008Having viewed this film I am disturbed by its message. While Jessica Lange plays the overburdened mother who would sacrifice her life, her safety, and her comfort for her daughter, Christina Ricci plays a selfish self centered girl.Both Lange and Ricci give compelling performances, however the script tends to gloss over the damage generated by someone in the state of mind of the character Wurtzel. In this film Wurtzel (Ricci) is accepted into Harvard University on a full journalistic scholarship. Glimpses into her home life indicate a somewhat neurotic but caring mother and a relatively normal home life. Her friends at school are supportive and caring and even forgiving when Wurtzel engages in self destructive behavior. We see her sleeping with her best friends boyfriend, exploding in jealousy when her own boyfriend is flirted with by another woman, and we see her attack him by accusing him of feeding off others pain when he tries to help his mother raise his retarded sister. We're led to believe that Wurtzels problems all stem from her parents divorce when she was a small girl and that it all revolves around her relationship with her absent and unloving father. At once the film condemns and praises the use of anti-depressant drugs as the panacea of modern life.My concern by this film is that it would provide a guide and an excuse to other young women who create a fantasy world of problems despite living an otherwise highly desirable lifestyle.I never read the book nor do I intend to, but if this movie is true to the tone of the book we bear witness to someone who is completely selfish and self destructive as a form of manipulation. Wurtzel only says that she came out of depression as she went into it, gradually and that the drugs gave her breathing room, yet she shows little remorse to the pain she inflicted on others nor any gratitude for those who stuck by her and showed her support. I wonder if Wurtzel is as selfish today as she was then.
couldn't finish this movie....
posted on 22 Jul 2008picked up this movie from blockbuster last week. title and synopsis seemed interesting, and i usually enjoy Christina ricci.i only made it about thirty minutes through. it seems that most positive comments about this movie come from people who suffer from depression.well, i suffered from depression, and this movie did it no justice. aside from jessica lange and the brief time i saw jason biggs on the screen, i found the acting in this movie to be flat and boring. the dialogue between characters seemed forced and unreal. the story moved too quickly to allow me to feel anything other than shame for Lizzie. but it also seemed slow and ho-hum.i blame the director for this. too bland. he'd toss in a few stretch shots in an attempt to add flavor, but it always occurred at the wrong time.i'm not one who likes to leave movies unfinished...but i saw this piece going nowhere. boring, bland, flat, etc...i definitely do Not recommend.
Why??
posted on 12 Jul 2008I was excited to see this movie, but that excitement and any hope I had for this movie died about a half an hour into it, maybe not even that. Christina Ricci's performance was not believable at all. She seemed far more like a five year old than a young Harvard student. I know actresses who could have done a far better job, hands down. And I was so let down that they didn't follow the book! Liz just came off to be a spoiled brat who couldn't deal with some school pressure and a couple problems with her parents. Big whoop. If the screenwriter had kept to the book, a lot more would have made sense, and I would have sympathized with the character. For the entirety of the movie I just wanted her to shut up. I would have left, but I was hoping that the movie would eventually stop sucking. Boy, was I wrong. This is the worst film I have seen in a while. Avoid it at all costs.
A lot of promise, a lot more whining.
posted on 08 Jul 2008While the makings of a very good plot are here, it's directed and arranged so badly that it's hard to have much feeling for Christina Ricci's character. It's understood from the title that eventually she uses Prozac to cope with mental illness, but evidence of the mental illness in the film comes off as drama-queen-isms, party drugging and whining. It got so tiresome that you wished that instead of Prozac the main character could be subjected to electroshock treatments much like how Lou Reed is introduced in the film with his history of treatments in his youth for mood swings. The aspect of the character being an up and coming tortured genius was pounded into the storyline to a level that throbs with narcissism (but hey, that's a mental hiccup too, though I don't know if Prozac will help you out with that one.) Jessica Lange's character is over-directed and one dimensional. She serves as only one element to the plot and that is to make Ricci's character throw tantrums. You want to slap her around a little too. The divorced father character is a cliché', of no use to the plot whatsoever. You understand that marital fighting wreaks havoc on Ricci's little psyche without one more annoyingly directed actor. I'd much rather have watched a nicely developed Lange and left Daddy on the cutting room floor.On the upside, Ricci appears nude. That happens in the first fifteen minutes. Turn off the DVD player after that. By the end you can't really tell if the Prozac taken is helpful or not.
Could've been better...
posted on 14 Jun 2008The performances of everyone in Prozac Nation was amazing. You could feel the intensity they feel. Especially Christina Ricci. But the film itself fails to show any sympathy for the actual problem that Elizabeth(Christina Ricci) has to face. Depression. When I first watched the film I thought it was good but it could've showed more detail in how Elizabeth felt about her life. The book which was written by Elizabeth Wurtzel herself and is her life story, shows more sympathy for her than in the movie. But it did make me realize that depression can affect anyone. The movie definitely had an affect on me. I would recommend it to anyone who is into realistic and dramatic films.
great acting and strong adaptation.....
posted on 10 Jun 2008i watched Prozac nation for the first time last night online. i was drawn immediately to the strong narrative by Rici's character. i could relate to her despair especially as a young adult. Thats what depression can do. It distorts reality. The story line is straight forward. So much so that its really the words and Rici's performance that kept me interested. I would recommend watching it. But its not an uplifting movie. But its honest. I would of liked to see some more flashback scenes to better understand the childhood experiences but i think the mothers performance helped in that area. I thought the scene where she first takes the e was well done.
A must-see story about depression
posted on 23 May 2008I chose the film purely from aesthetic reasons: to see lovely Christina. I was impressed, though, how difficult and yet excellent role she made in the movie.PN is psychologically very true story about a girl(Ricci), who struggles with her mind. The best part of the film is the way how the drama is made. There's no syrup in the storyline whatsoever. Ricci and Jessica Lange manage to be very honest, flesh-and-bone characters. The intensity remains the whole 1 ½ hours: the viewer wants to know, what will happen next. Erik Skjoldbjærg is one excellent director. I guess a lot of the credit goes to the original author Elizabeth Wurtzel, whose own life is on the background of the story.The story has a happy end in a way that doesn't make you vomit, but in a way that builds belief to the idea that one should life her/his life, though it won't always be sunshine. The movie has a lot of love to a human: the individuals are shown at their rawest, but we don't get to see not a bit too much social/emotional pornography.
Great performance by Ricci
posted on 21 Apr 2008I really really really want to see Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan, but I was embarrassed to go buy a ticket for that movie, so I watched this instead. I probably saw more of Christina that I would have seen in the other movie anyway.I have to say that she was really incredible and entirely believable as someone who is going through depression, and trying to get off the pills, but finally coming to the realization that you will probably never get rid of them totally. Anyone who sees this movie should have some idea of what depressed people go through. The self-doubts and the irrational reactions to simple things and the suicidal ideation are just three items they have to deal with.I also liked Jessica Lange as her mom. A totally great followup to her performance in Blue Sky. And, hey, I haven't seen Michelle Williams since Brokeback Mountain. Great job as the roommate. Didn't care at all for the rest of the cast. Watching pie-boy doesn't interest me.I would totally be back in therapy for the long haul if Anne Heche was my therapist. I can see some major transference issues here.
Not quite what I thought it would be; but Ricci's performance is Oscar-worthy !
posted on 15 Apr 2008PLOT: A young woman (Christina Ricci) struggles with depression during her first year at Harvard. Based on Elizabeth Wurtzel's novel.I saw this film, after reading the excellent book by Elizabeth Wurtzel. I had very high hopes, but unfortunately, they weren't meet in this one. Maybe be I was expecting it to live up to Girl, Interrupted, starring Winona Ryder. But there was just something that didn't quite work in Prozac Nation. Still, there's no denying that Ricci gave everything she had to this project, creating an incendiary performance that's startling in its starkness. She refuses to soften up the tart-tongued, often obnoxious Wurtzel, nor does she comfort the audience with little "Can you believe how nasty I am?" asides the way many actresses do when they're called upon to play unlikable characters.The movie, though, is perhaps too crystal clear. Ricci and the other actors are very good at establishing exactly what kind of people their characters are and how they will respond in all circumstances. Consequently, there are few surprises. No one can step out of character to lend Lizzie a helping hand. In fact, the movie is practically a commercial for medication over human compassion, which is unfortunate though possibly true in many cases.Skjoldbjaerg's attempts to visualize Lizzie's moods through speed-ed-up action and fuzzy double images remind you of bad student films of the '70s and '80s, it was awful. Otherwise, he directs with intelligence and is smart enough to realize that with Ricci as his star, the less fuss the better. Cinematographer Erling Thurmann-Andersen goes for somber, dark tones, while editor James Lyons moves things along at a crisp pace.Overall, I wasn't terribly impressed by this film. Christina Ricci's performance was amazing, and touched me, it pushes the film up about a mile. Maybe you should read the book, then watch the film and decide for yourself, but in comparison between them, I prefer the book. This thin drama is only 98 minutes long, but it moves so slowly, it feels like the cinematic equivalent of reading a book with very small amounts of text, could have been much better with a different director and script. OK, but not what I thought I'd see, it is certainly worth it for Ricci fans though, which is definitely me.6.1/10See It If You Liked: Girl, Interrupted, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, The Basketball Diaries, Thirteen
The only ART in this movie...
posted on 05 Jun 2009...puts the ART in FART, as the film is complete with shallow, soulless characters and plot to match. The DVD case mentions that our completely unlikeable protagonist (who left this viewer unmoved by sympathy, empathy or anything approaching true compassion, having been intimately acquainted with the depths of actual depression) sees the scholarship as a "chance to escape the pressures of her working-class background". Working class?! The living space, furniture and clothing these people have is NOT 'working-class' by a long a long shot. These people have more money than they think, especially by virtue of how much more expensive things are on that part of the East Coast. 'Working-class' often means scraping by, and these people are in no danger of ending up on the street from lack of resources.This movie sucks in so many ways that it just isn't worth sitting through. Your time would be better spent trimming your nose hairs instead.