Casey Powell is a teenage girl who is secretly suffering from anorexia nervosa, a mental and physical illness of deliberately starving herself or self-inducing vomiting, because of her inability to cope with family stress and because of social pressures.
Acting
Jennifer Jason Leigh at 19 — terrifyingly committed physical performance.
Writing
Steven Bochco's script doesn't flinch from the psychological mechanics.
Direction
Sam O'Steen's TV-movie urgency makes it feel dangerously immediate.
Director
Sam O'Steen
Charles Durning
Frank Powell
Eva Marie Saint
Joanne Powell
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Casey Powell
Melanie Mayron
Carol Link
Lisa Pelikan
Gail Powell
Viveca Lindfors
Madame Seurat
David Spielberg
Dr. Garrett
Jason Miller
Clay Orlovsky
Richard Venture
Dr. Neil Holzer
Lenora May
Julie
Laurence Lau
Mark
Michael Dudikoff
Chuck
Stephanie Cannon
Mary
Ally Sheedy
1st Girl
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Leigh reportedly lived on 300 calories a day during filming; the studio later intervened.
This ABC afterschool special prestige project helped legitimize eating disorders as medical rather than vanity issues — though critics argue it also inadvertently created a 'how-to' for vulnerable viewers.
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