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"White Oleander," adapted from Janet Fitch's best-selling novel, is hard and edgy about the bond between single mother and daughter, letting us see the reality of a strong artistic mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) tyrannizing her gifted daughter (Alison Lohman). After murdering her lover, mom goes to prison and daughter goes on an odyssey of self discovery in foster families, reminiscent of Burt Lancaster's episodic journey in John Cheever's `The Swimmer.'

In the first home, Robin Wright Penn's fundamental Christian presides over a frenetic household but reveals the sweet chaos of people who really love each other. In the next home, vulnerable actress, foster mom Renee Zellweger brings intimate caring to Lohman at an emotional price. Russian rag picker Svetlana Efremova brings hard-nosed business into Lohman's sights to complete an education of survival. Lohman finds loving understanding with Patrick Fugit, another artist in her life, but one without an agenda.

It's been a while since I've seen as good a job at depicting the effects of a strong but flawed mother on her strong but impressionable daughter. `Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood' tried with Ellen Burstyn as mother and Sandra Bullock as daughter, but the film failed to engage beyond a few shouts and eccentric southerners. `Oleander' has a brilliant artist manipulator teaching her daughter to be independent, even cold, to survive, yet the daughter has a need to be loved that draws her to older men, Christianity, and rebellion. Her psychic search for her absent father serves only to exacerbate the matter.

Pfeiffer does her best work here-- beautiful even in prison, she plays an ugly soul capable of the worst emotional tyranny over her sensitive, intelligent daughter, played with heart-breaking insight by Lohman. I was pleased with Kirsten Dunst last year in "crazy/beautiful." Just substitute Alison Lohman this year.

I have just one word: Wow.

I saw this movie not expecting much and was completely blown away. The story and especially the acting was incredible! INCREDIBLE. I am now and forever will be a devoted Alison Lohman fan. I've never seen anyone take a character and make it more real than she did with Astrid. She made me cry more than once. It is amazing to watch it all the way through and then start it over again just to reaffirm the amazing transformation the character goes through from beginning to end. She not only looks different but her mannerisms are also so innocent and naive in the beginning. It's unbelievable. I have to say I am completely angry that her acting was not mentioned in any awards, nominations, or anything by Hollywood.

All the acting was incredible. Robin Penn, Renee' Zellwegger, Michelle Pfieffer; all did outstanding! I've never hated Michelle Pfieffer before but she did an incredible job being someone you could truly be disgusted with. Also loved the job...and sorry to do this but the guy who was in Almost Famous...have no idea what his name is...did. The love story between Astrid and him is very sweet.

As I said before I was very blown away by this movie. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone and hope it gets more popular as time goes on.

Strong performances by Lohman, Penn, Zellweger and especially Michelle Pfeiffer in a faithful adaptation of Janet Fitch's novel. Not hard to see why this one didn't attract more attention in theaters, since it lacks the ingredients that seem to characterize hit films nowadays -- such as action, violence, sex and stunning special effects. It's just a very moving story, well-crafted and well-acted. I'd recommend it to anyone.

With no expectations of anything beyond the average I was aware as I viewed this film that it was a quality beyond most mainstream films currently available. We all left fairly stunned and stumbling into the daylight at the conclusion. Slowly devastatingly and utterly integral, at no point was the audience's intelligence insulted, the depth of characters, plot and script evenly executed with no room for anything but knowing we the audience were in for something special. Don't expect any black and white conclusions or answers, just the complexities of dynamics between kin and otherwise. . . brilliantly cast. I hope Michelle Pfieffer earns her first oscar here . . . comparable to American Beauty, I don't know why - but as poignant, beautiful, truthful and important. Beautiful soundtrack and to look at, pace perfect.

The white oleander looks beautiful but its poison kills. Social service agencies take children from their abusive parents but place them in homes and institutions where violence reigns. Ingrid Magnussen (Michelle Pfeiffer) puts her daughter, Astrid (Alison Lohman), in the center of her artwork but pushes her to the perimeter of her reality. Life is a contradiction in which nothing is purely good or purely evil.

White Oleander is a story about life's contradictions and the complexities of control, power, loneliness, betrayal, loyalty, and love. Janet Fitch won rave reviews in 2000 for this novel; screenwriter Mary Agnes Donoghue did not match Fitch's brilliance, but turned a weighty narrative-both in terms of content and size-into an admirable film blueprint.

Director Peter Kosminsky and accomplished actresses Pfeiffer, Robin Wright Penn, Renée Zellweger, and newcomer Lohman used this blueprint to create a gripping film that both readers and nonreaders of the original text will appreciate.

Pfeiffer is as cool and controlling as she is stunning even in prison garb, and her mastery of personality subtleties deserves acclaim. Audiences will hate the character because she is too smart, too manipulative, and too real.

And anticipate an Oscar-worthy breakthrough performance from Lohman. She shines in her portrayal of a daughter who worships her mother until she realizes the superficial nature of her beauty and the cruelty of her heart. Ingrid Magnussen is not as perfect as she thinks, and her love is as poisonous as the white oleander.

Stereotypes cheapen some of the film's richness and choices made to avoid an `R' rating sap some of its strength, but overall the film is as compelling as its sad and truthful characters.