White Oleander

Ingrid Magnussen (Michelle Pfeiffer), a feminist poet, poisons her ex-boyfriend in a fit of jealousy and is sentenced to life in prison, forcing her orphaned daughter, Astrid (Alison Lohman), to live in a series of foster homes with five very different women. As she experiences forbidden love, religion, near-death experiences, drugs and starvation -- and, eventually, true love -- Astrid keeps in touch with her mother via letters to prison.

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» Reviewed by 1 person

This movie has some obvious flaws. For one thing, Astrid’s (Alison Lohman) first foster mother Starr, (Robin Wright Penn) would never been approved to be a foster mother. One of the things that will preclude you from being a foster parent is having had your own children taken away from you and she readily admits she had. She and Ray (Cole Hauser) her live-in boyfriend, would never have passed the background check. Second, the prison is portrayed all wrong. Ingrid (Michelle Pfieffer) coming into the visitation area in shackles and handcuffs, well, that just wouldn’t have happened. Even with these obvious flaws though, this movie is good. The chemistry between the characters is there. The acting is flawless. Michelle Pfieffer plays a crazy artist superbly. There are moments when Ingrid and Astrid are interacting and you can see the madness just simmering below the surface. The movie starts out with Astrid saying she hadn’t felt safe since she was no longer with her mother, even though being with her mother wasn’t safe at all. Isn’t that how it is with most children and parents – children feel safe with their parents even if there are problems. Children who don’t feel safe are extremely abused and even some of them don’t recognize their won fears until after years of counseling. For Astrid, losing her mother brought with it a myriad of feelings because she felt that she could have stopped her mother from murdering her boyfriend. Astrid said she knew what Ingrid was planning. But what child could begin to truly fathom all that entailed or even really what death is? 4 ½ stars. (10/6/08)
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