Laurier blanc

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.

Based on the same-titled novel by Janet Fitch, White Oleander tells the story of a teenage girl (Alison Lohman) struggling to survive in foster homes while her free-spirited mother (Michelle Phieffer) is in prison for having murdered her lover with the poisonous flower 'White Oleander'. It is a complex story of the relationship between a powerless girl and a loveless mother that, in spite of its cheesy sounding premise, manages to avoid all clichéd Hallmark moments and project quite a lot of heart in doing so.

White Oleander sees Alison Lohman in a superbly bruised and fragile performance as Astrid Magnussen and we follow her through her struggles, both to bond with her mother and to survive in foster cares. All developments in her life feel natural and genuine, for example seeking the affirmation of an older man (Cole Hauser) in one of her foster homes, and putting herself into a strangely Lolita-like situation -- and this part is viciously well-handled and more effective than any other teen girl/older man jail bait situation I have ever seen.

The film stars a wide variety of blondes, Michelle Phieffer, Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn and Renée Zellweger in different parts and they all feel appropriate. Phieiffer is proud, cold and heartless and this is juxtapositioned with Lohman's mildness and loving ways. White Oleander is a film that is indeed very sad, but does not purposely pull at the human race's collective heartstrings in every emotional scene and set-up. This way, in spite of its content, it never becomes sappy. It's not a film I would watch again however, and I would never recommend it to male viewers because it is very chick-oriented.

7/10

White Oleander was a great book, but there are a few nagging omissions in the movie. For some reason, Michelle Pfeiffer is an artist and not a poet in the movie (was the focus group confused?) Noah Wyle's character's name changed from Ron to Mark for some unknown reason.

More importantly, so much was left out of the movie. Before Alison Lohman's character goes to Claire's place (Zellwegger's), she endures lots more than what the movie shows. There is zero mention of the Van Nuys house with the racist foster mom, the black woman next door, the next place which was the Argentinian woman who had a padlock on the fridge etc.. In the book, Claire's place was like an oasis of peace and tranquility, and love. This did not come through the way it should have. Claire was just a short episode in the movie too, which was wrong.

On the plus side the acting was great, Pfeiffer; beautiful but with that dagger glare; Wright Penn as the white trash hypocrite; Renee as the insecure actress and Alison Lohman as a girl going through foster homes and living in her own prison. Good enough movie if you haven't read the book, but a letdown for me.

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.