White Oleander

Review by Clint Morris

"Life's easier without friends".

You can kind of understand why 15-year-old Astrid [Alison Lohman] feels that way.

When her bohemian-artist mother [Michelle Pfeiffer] is arrested for murdering her boyfriend [Billy Connolly] and thrown in jail, Astrid is sentenced to life as a foster child, bouncing from home to home, unable to click with the appointed new guardians - much to the delight of her self-interested, imperious mother.

Just when she gets close to someone in her new unit - be it actress Claire [Renee Zellweger] or a fellow homeless boy [Patrick Fugit] - she's ripped away because of the ties she still has to her mother.

Mother seems determined to let her daughter know that she is the only honest-to-God person in the world - and dreads hearing of anyone on the outside who is forming a relationship with Astrid, regardless of whether it's making her daughter's life happy. "Love humiliates you. Hatred cradles you," she advises.

Based on the book by Janet Fitch, White Oleander staunchly recreates the story of a daughter who comes to realise her mother isn't the perfect being she envisioned, and how devastating it can be to find out that the woman who raised you is unsound, even dangerous.

The epiphany comes at a seminal, easily broken time in her life, and with the help of several female role models at the time, begins - or at least hopes - to make a change in her life for the better, one that mightn't incorporate Mum.

Director Peter Kosminsky wisely plays the scenes between mother and daughter minimally, bringing this tie to the film's emotional core. He treads dexterously with the material, and at all times, brings depth and substance to the tale, as well as considerably fleshing out his central characters.

As Astrid, 23 year old newcomer Alison Lohman is a sensation. A hurtling greyhound headed straight first into the railing, she's a force to behold as the confused, incurably trodden-on teenager, bringing likeability, standing and a thousand painful lexis of wretchedness to her part.

Without such an authentic lead in this part, White Oleander could have easily crashed and burned. But Lohman easily matches the poise of her co-stars - Pfeiffer (amazing too, as the ill-intentioned mamma), Renee Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn - to a level that's far more affecting and far more unobjectionable than your usual TV movie effort.

While it won't be a film for everyone, White Oleander is a must see for those that have had a bit of an uphill battle in life, and predominately had to choose between those beliefs he or she was spoon-fed by their parents, only to realise the right and wrong ways she's led to believe are preeminent - aren't.

Like the titular flower of its title, White Oleander will sting your senses and turn you cerulean with feeling as its petals of gorgeousness, and stems of the finest celluloid work its way into your system.

4 out of 5

White Oleander
Australian release: Thursday June 12th
Cast: Alison Lohman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright Penn, Renee Zellweger, Cole Hauser, Noah Wyle, Patrick Fugit.
Director: Peter Kosminsky.
Website: Click here

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