White Oleander Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 9th, 2002
WHITE OLEANDER
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At the age of 15, Astrid (Alison Lohman) is thrust from the safety of her single mother's shadow to find herself as she tries on the substitute mothers of foster care. Astrid also learns a hard lesson - that the woman she felt safe with, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), can continue to be dangerous even after being imprisoned for killing her boyfriend with poisonous "White Oleander."
Janet Fitch's novel became a phenomenon after it became an Oprah book club choice, but the richly textured, densely characterized novel is given the Cliff Notes treatment by screenwriter Mary Agnes Donoghue ("Beaches"). The major points are made, but one's never given enough time to respond or know the characters to become emotionally involved.
We meet Ingrid when her daughter finds her sitting on the edge of a roof, insisting Astrid join her. We're given the hint of Ingrid playing hard to get, then capitulating to Barry (Billy Connolly, "Mrs. Brown," in a role that barely allows us to even see his face). Ingrid's dragged from her home by police, Astrid's picked up by children's services, then sees her mother sentenced to life in prison - whoa! What happened and how did it happen so fast? (We'll learn in flashbacks, but the transitions are unrealistic and the pre-prison mother-daughter relationship is mostly told via Lohman's clipped narration.)
First stop is born again, ex-stripper Starr (Robin Wright Penn) who takes in foster kids for the extra income and God points. Soon Astrid's dressing cheaply and sporting a crucifix, which mama mocks during a prison visit. Confused, Astrid listens to mother, and in so doing, unwittingly slides into a seduction of Ray (Cole Hauser, "Hart's War"). Starr's jealousy leads her back to the bottle, her makeshift family crumbling apart and Astrid is ejected in a surprising manner.
An interlude at a state run boarding school further toughens up Astrid. She chops off her hair with a knife and threatens the girl who jumped her with it. She also meets Paul Trout (Patrick Fugit, "Almost Famous"), an aspiring artist who offers love at a deeper level, but she's whisked way to another foster house before he becomes home. This time she finds another kind of love with Claire (Renee Zellweger), a lonely, out-of-work actress who becomes a best girlfriend. But Astrid turns out to be a Band-Aid for Claire's
troubled marriage and shaky mental health and another tragedy ensues. Astrid finally gains her independence and finds her true self with Rena (Svetlana Efremova, "K-19: The Widowmaker"), a Russian in love with capitalism, even though she doesn't want what Rena offers.
Each stop exposes Astrid to not only a completely different lifestyle set against the varying landscapes of L.A., but to character traits she can pick and choose from as she attempts to shape herself. Costume and makeup nicely reflect the looks of the adult women back onto the
impressionable
teen, until she veers from Rena's wild style into a dark, bohemian goth look that's the opposite of her mother's pastel beauty. Art director Anthony Rivero Stabley creates distinct environs for each woman as well.
Each of the adult actresses paint their characters well, but only Pfeiffer and Zellweger are given enough time to show subtle inner psychologies, using more than broad strokes. Pfeiffer is perfectly cast as the cool beauty who loses it when her ego isn't fed by the men she claims to disdain. Pfeiffer makes the transition from flirt to determined killer to hardened jailbird believable, her initial delicacy gradually hardening into lean sinew, her feline grace held in check by shackles. Zellweger is all cheerful encouragement and zest for life until Astrid begins to question husband Mark's (Noah Wyle) frequent absences. Zellweger transitions into a fearful self-doubt we can tell she's visited before. (Pfeiffer's actually scary acting against Zellweger during a prison visit - she eviscerates the other character with laser beam eyes.)
Lohman adapts to the changes required of her, but the actress and director Peter Kosminsky never get the audience to break through the wall her character erects. Fugit makes for a strong, warm presence in the film. The final scene, repeated but extended from the opening, makes a concept which barely worked in the written word silly in its visualization. The score by Thomas Newman ("The Horse Whisperer") is comprised of a type of wistful piano playing that's been well overused.
"White Oleander" is a solid adaptation of terrific novel, but it doesn't get to a deep enough end of its ocean of pain.
B-
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