| | | Where does a mother end and a daughter begin?
Features: DVD, Widescreen, French, Spanish, Subtitled
White Oleander chronicles the life of Astrid (Alison Lohman), a young teenager who journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) goes to prison for committing a crime of passion. Set adrift in the world, Astrid struggles to become her own person while coming to terms with the challenges of living life on her own.
"Superbly acted from top to bottom." Stephen Holden, New York Times
"A marvelous performance by Allison Lohman..." Ross Anthony, Hollywood Report Card
"If the screen version of White Oleander was an Olympic event, it's hard to tell which of the movie's four actresses would end up winning the gold." Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing
Editor's Note
WHITE OLEANDER, the Janet Fitch novel made famous on Oprah's Book Club, is the tale of an intense and toxic mother-daughter relationship, coupled with a look at the fundamentally skewed U.S. foster care system. When the beautiful photographer Ingrid Magnusson (Michelle Pfeiffer) is imprisoned for allegedly murdering a philandering boyfriend, her daughter Astrid (Alison Lohman) does her best to survive a string of foster homes where natural adolescent mistakes turn into land mines. Her first stop is the home of a born-again Christian, Starr (Robin Wright Penn, who is so good in this part she's physically unrecognizable.) Next, she is sent to the home of a clinically depressed actress, Claire Richards (Renee Zellweger, whose natural effervescence is delightfully disturbing here.) Claire uses Astrid to fill the void left by a roaming husband (Noah Wyle). Astrid juggles her list of changing homes with visits to Mommy Dearest in prison, while suffering flashbacks of the alleged murder.WHITE OLEANDER, the first feature for U.K. television director Peter Kosminsky, is stark and brooding. Its simultaneously awful and lovely tone is reminiscent of AMERICAN BEAUTY or THE ICE STORM.
| Features | HBO First Look: The Journey Of White Oleander | | Commentary By Book Author Janet Fitch And Filmmakers. | | Widescreen Version Enhanced For 16x9 TVs | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | 15 minutes Of Additional Scenes. | | Bravo Special: The Making Of White Oleander. | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 5.1 |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 9/14/2004 |
| Running Time: 110 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2002 | | Catalog ID: 23414 | | UPC: 00085392341429 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Screen Actors Guild (2003) | | | Michelle Pfeiffer, Nominee, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...WHITE OLEANDER is a superbly acted from top to bottom. Ms. Pfeiffer, giving the most complex screen performance of her career, makes her Olympian seductress at once irresistible and diabolical..." 10/11/2002 p.E13Los Angeles Times
"...It's a tribute to the strength of the book's conception and the good work that's gone into it that it retains the power to haunt us..." 10/11/2002 p.C21 USA Today
"...Michelle Pfeiffer is icily powerful..." 10/11/2002 p.6E Variety
"...Kosminsky shows real command of his tech resources, and has an eye for details of L.A. that perhaps only an outsider can bring..." 09/09/2002 p.28 Box Office
"...WHITE OLEANDER eschews easy sentimentality and presents the women as complex individuals..." 11/01/2002 p.147 Movieline's Hollywood Life
"...Lohman is indelibly moving....[Pfeiffer] does some of the best work of her career....Robin Wright Penn also gives a terrific performance..." p.30-1 Entertainment Weekly
"...Robin Wright Penn brings believable, unguarded fury to the role..." 10/18/2002 p.89 Sight and Sound
"...[With] pleasingly subdued photography...[and a] nicely shaded approach to characterisation..." 12/01/2003 p.59-60 Seattle Post-Intelligencer 8 of 10
The leaping story line, shaped by director Peter Kosminsky into sharp slivers and cutting impressions, shows all the signs of rich detail condensed into a few evocative images and striking character traits. - Sean Axmaker
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