Prozac Nation

First televised March 2005 Starring Christina Ricci, Jason Biggs, Anne Heche, Jessica Lange (as Sarah), Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg 99 min. See complete credits at Internet Movie Database

 

Elizabeth Wurtzel, a former writer for New York and New Yorker magazine, hit a nerve with her 1999 bestseller Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America which dealt with her experiences with depression and drug dependecy during her years at Harvard. This became Christina Ricci's pet project who got the film made in 2001 and then had to endure the agony and the humiliation of watching it sit in the studio's vaults for four years before finally being released - on television.

The film garnered mixed reviews when it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and Miramax Films then began an endless succession of announcing release dates only to push them back again and again. Prozac Nation finally saw the light of day when it was screened on the Starz! cable channel in March of 2005.

The film, while not so bad as to warrant languishing for such a long time, might test the patience of many viewers but it is enlivened by an excellent performance from Ricci and it is not a stretch to say that this is probably her greatest performance to date. Lange plays her chain-smoking nuerotic mother who is able to elicit both sympathy and scorn for her portrayal of a woman who is herself on the edge.

Critical Sampling:

Jessica Lange tones down her ordinary tendencies to go over the top, and gives us a moving portrayal of Lizzie's overprotective mother, who becomes the target of her daughter's verbal abuse on more than one occasion. - James Berardinelli, Reelviews

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