Movies - Prozac Nation

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Prozac Nation (sub-titled Young and Depressed in America : A Memoir), an autobiography published in 1994 and written by Elizabeth Wurtzel, describes the author's experiences with clinical depression. Prozac Nation is also the name of an independent film based on the book. The title is a reference to Prozac, the name of an antidepressant prescribed for Wurtzel.

Book

In the book (1997 edition: ISBN 1573225126), Wurtzel describes her experience with the depths of a depressive illness, her own character failings and how she managed to live through particularly difficult periods whilst completing college and working as a writer. Her honesty in relating episodes which often do not reflect well on her is a striking aspect of the book. This has polarised many readers and critics, with some denouncing Wurtzel as self-obsessed, indulgent and unlikeable, whilst others praising her for producing a frank and accessible account of an often stigmatised illness.

As an autobiographical account of experiences with mental illness it can be seen as the successor to books such as Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Joanne Greenberg's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
. Prozac Nation is also similar to Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted, a book published in the same year: both were written by articulate young women describing their experiences of mental illness.

Some reviews, including one published in The Guardian ten years after its initial publication, suggest that comparisons to The Bell Jar are superficial: :The endless comparisons to The Bell Jar are, it has to be said, rather misplaced. Whereas Plath wrote with a kind of dispassionate economy, beautifully reflecting the numbness that came with her condition, Wurtzel's voice is splenetic, capturing the almost sociopathic side of depression that underpins the book's more unpalatable moments.

Film

The book was turned into a motion picture directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg and starring Christina Ricci, Jason Biggs, and Anne Heche. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2001; distribution rights were acquired by Miramax Films with the intent of giving the film a wider theatrical release.

Before the film was released, controversy erupted over comments Wurtzel, who lived near the World Trade Center in New York, made during an interview with Jan Wong about the September 11, 2001 attacks. She was quoted in a February 16, 2002 article by Wong titled, "That's enough about me, now, what do you think of me?", for The Globe and Mail in Toronto: :My main thought was: What a pain in the ass... I had not the slightest emotional reaction. I thought, this is a really strange art project... It was a most amazing sight in terms of sheer elegance. It fell like water. It just slid, like a turtleneck going over someone's head... It was just beautiful. You can't tell people this. I'm talking to you because you're Canadian... I just felt like everyone was overreacting. People were going on about it. That part really annoyed me... I cried about all the animals left there in the neighbourhood... I think I have some kind of emotional block. I think I should join some support group for people who were there... You know what was really funny? After the fact, like, all these different writers were writing these things about what it was like, and nobody bothered to call me.

Months of subsequent test screenings and re-edits never led to a broad commercial release. The film was released in Norway, Skjoldbjaerg's native country, in August 2003. The film never had a national release in the U.S. market. It premiered on the Starz! channel in March 2005, and was released on DVD that following summer.

Frank Deasy, who co-wrote the screenplay, offered his opinion to The Guardian on Miramax's failure to release the film: :It's a truthful depiction of depression. And I think the reason Miramax has struggled is the fact that it doesn't have a traditional dramatic structure, in terms of a clear, unqualified ending. Look at the book: Elizabeth is very clear that Prozac has helped her, but you're left with a dilemma, because perhaps she no longer knows who she is. We didn't want to come down heavily on one side or the other. People who've experienced depression like that aspect of the film, but a lot of people don't like it. Miramax certainly don't seem to like it.

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Movies - Prozac Nation

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