Christina Ricci: 8 Roles That Have Defined Her Career
3. Elizabeth Prozac Nation (2001)
This should have been the role that elevated Ricci to full-on leading lady status. An adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzels best-selling memoir detailing her struggles with depression, it seemed to have all the elements in place for an awards season darling, and also saw the actress take on producer status for the first time. Yet in most territories, the film wound up sitting on the shelf for a few years before being sent direct to DVD with little aplomb in 2005, and if it's remembered at all by film culture at large, little tends to be mentioned beyond Ricci's first nude scene. Its widely reported the key reason Miramax sat on Prozac Nation so long was down to fears over how to sell it. This was due partially to controversial remarks made by Wurtzel herself about 9/11 (which occurred only a few days after the films premiere at Toronto International Film Festival), but also because of overriding concerns about how unsympathetic a protagonist she proves to be in the film. Its certainly true that Riccis Elizabeth is frequently very hard to like: shes constantly cruel to her loved ones, regards them with unwarranted suspicion and contempt, and places huge demands on them whilst giving very little of herself in return. However, none of this is accidental; its all very true to the realities of living with depression, both for the one suffering the affliction, and those who care for the afflicted person. The situation often appears hopeless, and even with medication there are no easy solutions and happy endings; the best anyone can hope for, it seems, is just to get by. Prozac Nation does not sugar-coat any of this, and in not shying away from the unsavoury elements of her character, Ricci gives possibly her boldest performance and the actresss magnetism is once again enough to keep the viewer invested, despite Elizabeths often deplorable self-sabotaging behaviour.
