Prozac Nation (2001) - Ricci and Lange are stellar in wrongfully discarded depression drama

♥♥♥♥♥

 

 

Star Christina Ricci lying naked in white sheets make up this poster for Erik Skjoldbjærg's Prozac Nation

The true story of Elizabeth Wurtzel, a young American woman from a torn home, who goes to Harvard to study, which escalates her emotional chaos.

Prozac Nation is written by Frank Deasy (Captives (1994)), Larry Gross (Gunshy (1998)) and co-writer/co-producer Galt Niederhoffer (10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up (2020)), adapting Elizabeth Wurtzel's (Bitch (1998)) same-titled 1994 memoir, and directed by great Norwegian filmmaker Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia (1997)).

It is an impressively well-written adaptation of the bestselling story of Wurtzel's personal battle with depression and pill addiction, among other things. It lives and breathes due especially to the strong performances of Christina Ricci (Miranda (2002)) and Jessica Lange (Tootsie (1982)) as Wurtzel and her mother, respectively, but also Michelle Williams (Certain Women (2016)) and Jason Biggs (American Pie (1999)) are good in it.

A series of visual finesses are utilized neatly in this very realistic and painful tour of what family-driven depression can look like. Not a light dish or one that will appeal broadly but a great drama nonetheless.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 9 mil. $

Box office: 129k $ (Norway alone)

= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)

[Prozac Nation premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Ricci was paid 1 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from May - July 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in Massachusetts, including in Boston. The film was acquired by Miramax for release following its Toronto premiere, but the company soured at it in the months and years to follow and only released the film in North America in 2005 on the Starz network. The film did have a theatrical release in a handful of other minor markets, including Skjoldbjærg's native Norway, where it made its likely biggest earning, 129k $. A projected total gross of 200k $ would mean that the film returned 0.02 times its cost theatrically. Skjoldbjærg returned with Skolen (2004, TV-series) and theatrically with En Folkefiende (2005). Ricci returned in The Laramie Project (2002, TV movie) and theatrically in Pumpkin (2002); Lange in Normal (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Masked and Anonymous (2003). Prozac Nation is rotten at 28 % with a 4.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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