21 Perfect Galentine’s Day Movies

Screengrab via Columbia Pictures.

Girl, Interrupted

This is a darker entry, but chock-full of complicated, morbidly endearing, broken, intelligent, strong ladies nonetheless. Based on the memoir of the same name, this film tells the true story of Susanna Kaysen, a young woman in the late 60’s who experiences a mental break. As she navigates her new environment and her new relationship to her mind after landing in a mental institution, she encounters young women with their own shaky and troublesome stories to tell. The friends she meets in the hospital help her understand her own mental state in the context of their (some better, some worse) conditions while also inviting her into a world and a culture of their own creating, wherein she becomes maybe a bit too comfortable. She gets into some trouble, she has some breakthroughs, some breakdowns, and has strange bouts of fun, but ultimately, this story is one that explores what it means to find yourself within the world- any world- you’re a part of.

Especially now, a time in which the world is ever-changing and nothing seems certain or promised, this story of a girl’s journey to find her way back to herself is incredibly resonant. Like Susanna, it can be hard to know whether it’s you, your brain, your female-ness, or just the world that’s making you feel crazy. In any case, this movie may not bring you clarity, but its chaos and Susanna’s place amid that may bring you a strange amount of comfort.

Best lady moment: The girls find a guitar and have a singalong to cheer up a fellow patient, who’s been confined to solitary after an episode. It’s poignant, eerie, and lovely. I mean, what gal doesn’t love a good singalong, in any circumstance?