OverviewReviewCastProduction CreditsAwards
   
The Best Little Girl in the World
Plot Synopsis by Bernadette McCallion

A young girl's dangerous dance with dieting leads to near disaster in this exceptional made-for-television drama. In one of the earliest treatments of the subject, Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as Casey Powell, the quiet daughter of an overbearing mother and milquetoast father. Feeling pressure to be the good girl of the family after her troublesome older sister gets pregnant, Casey retreats into her secretive world of self-starvation. When arguing fails to produce results, her parents (Charles Durning and Eva Marie Saint) send her to a hospital where she meets a spunky fellow patient (Melanie Mayron) and a caring therapist (Jason Miller). Casey's road to recovery is not as simple as merely eating though, and she and her family realize that together they must confront the deeply-rooted familial issues that lay at the heart of Casey's affliction. Jennifer Jason Leigh is utterly compelling in the lead role.

Similar Works
The Boy Who Drank Too Much  (1980, Jerrold Freedman)
Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway  (1976, Randal Kleiser)
The Karen Carpenter Story  (1989, Joseph Sargent)
Kate's Secret  (1986, Arthur A. Seidelman)
Sarah T.: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic  (1975, Richard Donner)
La Peau et les Os  (1988, Johanne Pregent)
Something About Amelia  (1984, Randa Haines)
For the Love of Nancy  (1994, Paul Schneider)
Into the Arms of Danger: A Moment of Truth Movie  (1997, Chuck Bowman)
Hunger Point  (2003, Joan Micklin Silver)
Other Related Works
 Is related to:    Cathy Rigby on Eating Disorders 
   Anorexia and Bullimia 
   An Anorexic's Tale: The Brief Life of Catherine 
   Eating Disorders: The Hunger Within 
   Eating Disorders: When Food Hurts 
   Thin  (2005, Lauren Greenfield)