Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Whoopi Goldberg: Valerie
Photos
Quotes
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Valerie : [about Daisy] What would you have said to her?
Susanna : I don't know. That I was sorry. That I will never know what it was like to be her. But I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in but you can't. You hurt yourself on the outside to try to kill the thing on the inside.
Valerie : Susanna, it's all well and good to tell me all this; but you gotta tell some of this to your doctors.
Susanna : How the hell am I supposed to recover when I don't even understand my disease?
Valerie : But you do understand it. You spoke very clearly about it a second ago. But I think what you've gotta do is put it down. Put it away. Put it in your notebook, but get it out of yourself. Away so you can't curl up with it anymore.
Susanna : Lisa thinks it's a gift. That it lets you see the truth.
Valerie : Lisa's been here for eight years.
Susanna : [crying] I'm so sorry. I was a bitch. I was a bitch.
Valerie : Don't drop anchor here, you understand?
Susanna : [narrating] When you don't want to feel, death can seem like a dream. But seeing death, really seeing it, makes dreaming about it fucking ridiculous. Maybe, there's a moment growing up when something peels back... Maybe, maybe, we look for secrets because we can't believe our minds...
[overlapping words]
Susanna : All I know is that I began to feel things again. Whatever I was, I knew there was only one way back to the world and that was to use the place to talk. So I saw the great and wonderful Dr. Wick three times a week and I let her hear every thought in my head.
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Valerie : You know, I can take a lot of crazy shit from a lot of crazy people. But you - you are not crazy.
Susanna : Then what's wrong with me, huh? What the fuck is going on inside my head? Tell me, Dr. Val, what's your diag-nonsense?
Valerie : [hovering over Susanna] You are a lazy, self-indulgent little girl, who is driving herself crazy.
Susanna : Is that your... *professional* opinion, huh? Is that what you've learned in your advanced studies at night school for Negro welfare mothers? I mean, Melvin doesn't have a clue, Wick is a *psycho* and you... you *pretend* to be a doctor. You sign the charts and dole out meds. But "you ain't no doctor, Miss Valerie. You ain't nothing but a black nursemaid".
Valerie : And you're just throwing it away.
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Janet : I want my fucking clothes!
Valerie : Then you'll have to eat something, won't you?
Janet : [singing] Oh Lordy, pick a bale o' cotton / Oh Lordy, pick a bale o' hay / Gotta jump down spin around pick a bale o' cotton / Jump down spin around, pick a bale o' hay...
Valerie : [to Susanna] She thinks that bothers me.
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Valerie : [to Susanna] Remember me when you shave your legs.
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Susanna : Gone upstairs... talked to Daisy.
Valerie : Melvin said you went upstairs.
Susanna : Too late
Valerie : What would you have said to her?
Susanna : I don't know. That I was sorry... that I'll never know what it was like to be her, but I know what it's like to want to die. How it hurts to smile. How you try to fit in, but you can't. How you hurt yourself on the outside... to try to kill the thing on the inside.
Valerie : Susanna, it's all well and good to tell me all this, but you've got to tell some of this to your doctors.
Susanna : How the hell am I supposed to recover... when I don't even understand my disease?
Valerie : But you do understand it. You spoke very clearly about it a second ago. But I think what you've got to do is put it down. Put it away... put it in your notebook. But get it out of yourself. Away, so you can't curl up with it anymore.
Susanna : Lisa thinks it's a gift. That it lets you see the truth...
Valerie : Lisa has been here for eight years.
Susanna : [Susanna hugs Valerie, Sobbing] I'm so sorry. I was a pig. I was a pig!
Valerie : It's alright, it's alright, listen... do not drop anchor here. Understand?
Susanna : [V.O, Susanna Narrating] When you don't want to feel, death can seem like a dream. But seeing death- really seeing it- makes dreaming about it fucking ridiculous. Maybe there's a moment growing up... when something peels back. Maybe. Maybe I...
Susanna : [V.O] We look for secrets because we can't believe our minds...
Susanna : [V.O, Susanna Narrating] And though I missed Lisa, life was easier without her. A thought is a hard thing to control- out in the real world- all I know is that I began to feel things again-... Crazy, Sane, Stupid, Smart, Angry... whatever I was- I knew there was only one way back to the world, and that was to use the place, to talk. So I saw the great and wonderful Dr. Wick three times a week, and I let her hear every thought in my head.
