Product Details

• Actors: Christina Ricci, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jessica Lange, Anne Heche, Jason Biggs
• Directors: Erik Skjoldbjærg
• Writers: Elizabeth Wurtzel, Frank Deasy, Galt Niederhoffer, Larry Gross
• Producers: Andrea Sperling, Andrew Sugerman, Avi Lerner
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Unknown)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Miramax Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: July 5, 2005
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00094ASC2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,077 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Prozac Nation" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

A young woman struggles with depression during her first year at harvard. Based on elizbeth wurtzels novel. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 07/05/2005 Starring: Christina Ricci Anne Heche Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I wish I could just figure out who I am", July 6, 2005

By 

M. J Leonard "MikeonAlpha" (Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prozac Nation (DVD)

Although Prozac Nation never got a theatrical release it so well deserved, it has finally, after more than three years, been released on DVD. It's a well-made, well-acted film, an unremittingly subdued portrait of a young girl's path towards mental self-destruction. And while the movie does quite a good job of showing this, it doesn't really offer any real solutions to the problems of clinical depression - apart from popping Prozac that is.

Based on a true story and set in the mid-1980's, Prozac Nation stars the chameleon-like Christina Ricci as Elizabeth Wurtzel, a mentally unstable but academically gifted Harvard undergraduate who gets into a downward spiral of alcohol and drugs, eventually ending up estranged from the people who care about her the most. The movie lays out, with remarkable insight and clarity, that Elizabeth might well have been prone to depression, but with her early dysfunctional family life, she didn't stand a chance.

Her intensely pushy and neurotic mother (marvelously played by Jessica Lange) desperately tries to help her, but has in effect, spoilt her beyond imagining. Elizabeth's father (Nicholas Campbell), an old pill addict and rocker, and an even more self-centered character, has all but deserted the family.

At Harvard, her life begins to fall apart and even though she develops some good friends, they're often reduced to looking on helplessly as she steadily spirals out of control: there's the kindly roommate Ruby (Michelle Williams), who really "gets" her; her first lover Noah (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who turns her on to recreational drugs and later moralizes to her about it; and a caring fellow student and lover Rafe (Jason Biggs), whom she anoints as her "savior," but who ends up dumping her because he just can't stand her vitriolic mood swings.

The only person that Elizabeth can really connect with is rocker Lou Reed, presumably because she's always so out-of-it on drugs. Terrified of being rejected by Rafe she goes into panic mode, eventually getting some therapy sessions with Dr. Sterling, an unemotional psychiatrist (Anne Heche). Dr. Sterling realizes that only by remaining aloof can she reach the turmoil of Elizabeth's inner soul. Eventually, she prescribes Prozac, the panacea drug of the 1980s, to help Elizabeth have an emotional window of opportunity and hopefully rebuild her identity.

Ricci is terrific as Wurtzel, giving the role all that she's got. She has attention-grabbing eyes, and a face that is open at one moment and totally withdrawn the next. In this role, she uses her eyes and face to reflect not only the emotional turmoil but also anger, resentment at the world, and the sense of the uncontrollability of her self-destructive actions. She lashes out at everyone, screwing up her face and sneering with a kind of cold-hearted wrath.

In Prozac Nation there's almost nonstop screaming, crying, and out-and-out appalling behavior, which, after the first hour, may prove to be a bit much for some viewers. But if you can handle the subject of mental illness and the accompanying histrionics, it's a film that is certainly worth watching, mostly for Ricci's cleverly willful, intractable, and totally on-the-mark performance. Mike Leonard July 05.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'P N' has insight into world of depression!, November 10, 2005

By 

Lonster "Elon" (Littleton, Co USA) - See all my reviews

I loved this movie. Ms. Ricci's acting has grown far beyond her role as 'Wednesday Addams' in the Addams family pictures, she made me want to either cry or hug her and tell her that it would be okay. I saw my mother and I in her interactions with Jessica Lange. This was a well-made film and it showed what it is like to be depressed from the depressed individual's POV. All of the actors were wonderful, the script was excellent, the cinematography was spot-on. I really felt for these people. I am recommending this movie to everyone that I meet!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It gets its point across very well, November 3, 2005

By 

Phoenix "Wayne" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prozac Nation (DVD)

I bought this DVD today and just finished watching it for the first time. It is a tough subject and I don't really know if you can accurately depict true mental depression in a film: a book can spend a lot of time getting under your skin and into your head; this film only runs approx. 91 minutes.
My initial feelings were that it is, from someone who has never taken any anti-depression drugs (because I refused to when it was recommended to do otherwise), an honest film; perhaps as close to reality as a movie on this subject can get. "Prozac Nation" did a damn good job in my humble opinion and it was without the typical cliches` and acted by everyone extremely well, especially Christina Ricci and Jessica Lange. Recommended to anyone who wants to get closer to a true-life story on this subject.
Also thought that those reviewers who discarded the film, suggesting the character just "get over it" were a bit harsh.
A depressed person is often unreasoning. So how can it possibly accept "get over it" as an answer?