Prozac Nation
is a
harrowing, disturbing drama adapted from Elizabeth Wurtzel’s
best-selling novel that chronicles the college years of Elizabeth
Wurtzel (Christina Ricci) at Harvard University in the 1980s,
where she battles with clinical depression that has haunted her
since she was young and now threatens to consume her. The film
opens with a nearly catatonic Wurtzel being hurried off to Harvard
by her overbearing and overjoyed mother (Jessica Lange). She is
entering Harvard on a journalism scholarship and it seems that
writing is the only way she can truly express herself. Her mother
is worried that she won’t succeed or fit in because of her
depressive and self-destructive personality. Her mother doesn’t
realize that its because of her possessiveness over her daughter’s
life, her placing the failures of her own life onto the potential
successes of her daughter’s, and her dealings with her ex-husband,
Elizabeth’s father (Nicholas Campbell), that Elizabeth is mentally
unstable. When her mother and father talk, even when Elizabeth
is on the phone trying to talk with her father and her mother is
right over her shoulder, all they do is scream at each other. Her
father abandoned the family years ago and barely has any contact
with Elizabeth, but whenever he reaches out, her mother screams
out.
When she gets to
Harvard, Elizabeth
gets herself locked into an endless cycle of drugs, alcohol, sex and
failed relationships. Her writing starts out perfectly, her first
writing assignment gets her an award and an assignment for Rolling
Stone magazine, but its after this success where she begins to break
down. Nothing she writes after that assignment is ever good enough,
she gets virtually no sleep, and she starts being angry all the time.
She begins to ruin all of her friendships and relationships, like her
best friend Ruby (Michelle Williams), who can’t stand being the victim
of Elizabeth’s constant verbal assaults, or her party crazy boyfriend
Noah (Jonathan Rhys-Myers), who would just like her to be sober for an
hour or so. Her friends admit her to a hospital where she begins
treatment with therapist Dr. Sterling (Anne Heche). She starts to
make some progress and even meets a nice boy, Rafe (Jason Biggs) who
falls for even with all of her problems. But it’s not long before
Elizabeth
self destructs again and loses Rafe, along with almost everything
else. That’s when Dr. Sterling recommends a new treatment for
Elizabeth that just might make life tolerable for her.
CRITIQUE
Prozac Nation
does
effectively capture the nonstop extreme highs and lows of depression
and Christina Ricci does deliver a powerhouse performance nailing the
harsh, frenzied exhibition of self-destruction in this character, but
the film is such a nonstop downer filled with so much negativity,
screaming, and hysterical crying it’s almost impossible to enjoy the
film on any level.
The director, Erik
Skjoldbjaerg, is to blame. The film focuses almost all of its energy
on Elizabeth’s manic breakdowns, her sparring matches with her mother
and her constant verbal abuse of all those that love her, that the
character becomes one of the most unlikable and horrible human beings
to ever grace the screen. The whole tone of the film is blanketed in
this feeling, so it becomes almost repulsive to watch. If he had
taken the time to go into her writing more, her good times with those
people that love her, her mentally quiet times, or anything redeemable
whatsoever, the film would have come across better (or at least it
would have garnered the appropriate amount of praise fro Ricci’s
work). Skjoldbjaerg also uses camera trickery and resorts to
voiceover to evoke the feelings of depression, which is a big
mistake. It comes across as amateurish and insecure, and it just
makes the film that much more unpleasant and irritating to sit
through.
There are two
tremendous performances in the film from Ricci and Jessica Lange,
which are just wasted on this revolting film. Ricci really stretches
herself here and she is just tremendous. Ricci plays this character
flawlessly, hitting all the right notes of someone dealing with
clinical depression. The film’s best scenes are the emotional
sparring matches between Ricci and Lange. Lange’s punishing,
brilliant performance makes it clear why Elizabeth is the way she is
and she perfectly conveys what a hurtful, bitter life her character
has had. These are two award worthy performances. The supporting
cast is unfortunately very lifeless, Williams is just a blank slate as
the best friend, as well as the normally interesting Rhys-Meyers who
is just as bland and inert. Anne Heche is horrifyingly awful as the
therapist; I can’t believe she got paid for this. Jason Biggs is the
only one of the supporting team that comes out unscathed. He
convincingly portrays Rafe as a good guy who unfortunately meets a
very messed up girl.
THE VIDEO
Miramax presents
the film in 1.85:1 widescreen anamorphic transfer and the quality is
outstanding. The colors are deep and sharp, with no noticeable
trouble spots.
THE AUDIO
The audio is
presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 but there is virtually no use of the
surround as this is not a very active sound presentation. The
dialogue does sound crisp and clear upfront and the overall sound is
good.
THE EXTRAS
There is only one
extra on the disc. It is an episode of The Sundance Channel’s
Anatomy of a Scene, which is devoted to breaking down one
particular scene in a film with interviews from cast and crew. In
this feature, the cast and crew of Prozac Nation discussthe ugly scene where Elizabeth’s mother tries to throw her a
birthday party and things go horribly wrong. This is a quality show
and this episode is no different. They really delve into all of the
details, even how the director chose the colors of everything in the
room to convey exactly the right mood.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Prozac Nation
has one
very big fault; there is nothing about any of the characters that
would make you care about them. The lead character is so nasty and
unlikable that the film itself becomes unpleasant and a chore to sit
through. It’s a shame because there are two really great performances
in the film.
