A Character Analysis of Lisa Rowe, The Most Misunderstood Character of Girl, Interrupted

Before I begin, please understand that this article will contain MAJOR SPOILERS for the film: Girl, Interrupted! Please don’t ruin the movie for yourself and watch it right now if you haven’t already!

Lisa Rowe is a simultaneously feared and loved patient of the psych ward in ‘Girl, Interrupted’. Acting as a sort of head honcho of the establishment and posing the biggest threat to our protagonist, Susanna, Lisa is easily seen as the clear antagonist of the movie. It is terribly evident, however, that this interpretation misses the whole point of the movie.

Before I can elaborate, I need to further establish Lisa’s character and her dynamic, complicated qualities. As an audience, we are first introduced to her through a window, struggling against a police officer escorting her back inside the ward, calling him a “pig” and other derogatory names. This introduces us to Lisa’s first quality; her bluntness. Lisa never sugarcoats the truth, as she does not see the need to. Later established in the movie as a sociopath, it can be inferred she has a deep understanding of others’ feelings, but still has no gripes about hurting them. Most viewers look past this and use it as a reason to further demonize her, but just like every other girl in the ward, she has reason to act the way she does.

This demonization goes further when she lashes out at Susanna, yelling in her face about the disappearance of her previously living best friend. This shows Lisa’s next quality; an inability to properly assess situations. Lisa sees no issue with letting her anger out on Susanna, despite knowing fully that Susanna had nothing to do with her best friend’s death.

I could go on about all of Lisa’s shortcomings and how almost anyone would classify her as a terrible person on the surface level, but the point I’m trying to make is that she’s more than that. Lisa may not care when Daisy commits suicide, or she may not see an issue with terrorizing Susanna at the end of the movie by chasing her under the ward. What viewers probably fail to realize, though, is that Lisa is a product of her environment.

Lisa, like every other character, is in the psych ward for a reason, a reason she understands fully well. It’s obvious, however, that Lisa does not understand why that reason is a problem. Her sociopathy is a perfect escape from all the troubles of her life, and even presents the added benefit of a wide network of friends, even if they might fear her. She’s never made aware of the lie she’s living, making it impossible to expect her to improve. She even comments on the industry of therapy to Susanna and Georgina, and how she sees it as merely a way to make money without actually reconciling the patients. Viewers who expect Lisa to magically get better without having a reason to are misguided at best and unsympathetic to the plights of the mentally ill at worst.

I believe this movie even satirizes these kind of viewers all throughout. Tobias is obviously completely oblivious to mental illness and its effects, as seen primarily by his offer to help Susanna to escape the ward with no concern for Susanna’s mental health and if it would worsen. Viewers who think like this see all the ward girls as crazy or evil, with Susanna being the sole exception as result of her status as the protagonist, or in Tobias’ case, his girlfriend. Past the mental illness, though, it is clear that every girl has characteristics to be admired. Georgina is thoughtful and friendly, Polly is caring and passionate, and even Lisa is funny and free-spirited.

I apologize for constructing a sort of strawman that completely misunderstands the message of the movie, but I just honestly wanted an excuse to talk about the movie in whatever way possible. I hope you enjoyed this character analysis since it’s my first article on this website, and I’m hoping to further improve my writing on here. I’ll probably be doing more movie-related articles, like film analysis or reviews, so please follow if you’re interested. Thank you for reading!!!