I thought it was a powerful movie, too. Despite my brother saying the way for a beautiful actress to win an Oscar is to ugly her up, Charlize deserved that Oscar in ways I'm not always sure the winners do.
I saw Ricci's character as egging her. The needy younger person in the relationship; the older person trying to be the strong one, the provider, and getting into situations in order to provide for the needy one.
I think it's rather unforgiveable for a professor to advise you not to read certain things due to your personality. What, I can't read Poe any more because I'm about halfway there myself? Bah. That's the biggest pile of crap I've heard in a long time.
An unexamined life is not worth living. Shielding yourself from the difficult things is no way to live.
However, if you're prone to reading Danielle Steele while eating a gallon of ice cream, drinking a pint of vodka, and crying out in the middle of the street, well...I think you could safely say that's not good for anyone. But I wouldn't recommend that reading anyway.
Harry Angstrom forever!