Watch White Oleander For Free

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Teenager Astrid Magnussen is having a bad hair day. Make that a bad hair life. Her father abandoned the family when she was a baby. Her mother Ingrid is serving 35 years to life in jail for murdering her boyfriend after discovering he was cheating on her. Her first foster mother, Starr, shot and wounded her when she began to suspect that Astrid had lustful designs on her live-in lover. Her second foster mother, Claire, committed suicide after the breakdown of her marriage. Her third, a Russian immigrant, exploits her foster children as cheap labour in her business. In between fosterings Astrid lives in a grim orphanage which seems rather less comfortable and welcoming than the prison in which her mother is incarcerated.If there were a Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Fictitious Characters the makers of this film would be in big trouble indeed, although they would not be the only ones. I have never read the original novel by Janet Fitch, but I understand that in it Astrid is subjected to even greater sufferings which a merciful scriptwriter decided to spare her here.Any synopsis of its plot would make "White Oleander" seem like the cinematic of all those "tragic life stories" (aka "misery porn") which were filling our bookshops during the early 2000s, with the difference that the story told in this film is purely fictional, whereas misery porn generally is (or purports to be) based upon real-life events. Yet there is more to it than that; the film is skilfully directed by Peter Kosminsky and features some fine performances from a number of actresses. (The male members of the cast are generally less prominent).Michelle Pfeiffer's Ingrid is clearly intelligent, but also arrogant and totally lacking in moral insight, showing no remorse for her crime. Like Belloc's Godolphin Horne she "holds the human race in scorn"; she dismisses the working class as "trailer trash", and has a fixed prejudice against religion, especially Christianity, a prejudice which she tries to justify in the name of reason but which owes more to intellectual pride. She is horrified to see Astrid wearing a cross given to her by Starr, a former stripper turned born-again Christian, although in this case she might have some justification for her suspicion of Christianity. Starr (played in another fine performance by Robin Wright Penn) is the sort of born-again hypocrite whose faith does not prevent her from carrying on an adulterous relationship with a man still legally married to someone else and for whom accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour is not necessarily incompatible with trying to shoot your foster daughter.This is one of the finest performances I have seen Pfeiffer give. (She also looks stunning, far younger than her age of 44). Ingrid is a repellent individual, and yet Pfeiffer makes us realise that she is nevertheless a human being, particularly towards the end when her more vulnerable side becomes apparent. Pfeiffer's Ingrid is complemented by Alison Lohman's Astrid. Ingrid's main aim is to turn her into a younger version of herself, and Astrid's is to resist this process and to establish herself as her own person.The story is set in Southern California, and this is reflected in the brilliant light and bright primary colours which predominate in the film. Kosminsky makes particular use of the colour blue, and most scenes, especially those featuring Ingrid, have at least one prominent bright blue object.The film's main weakness is a lack of plausibility as far as the storyline is concerned, which is why I am unable to give it a higher mark. Any one of the mishaps which befall Astrid might be plausible in itself. That so many mishaps could have happened to a 15-year-old girl, at least without destroying her psychologically, starts to strain credibility. Some of the characters did not seem very credible either, especially Claire, although I felt this was less the fault of Renée Zellweger than of the script, which never told us much about Claire's background or enabled us to understand her frailties. I also wondered just how realistic was the portrayal of California's social services system. If Astrid's experiences are anything to go by, it would appear that the chief requirement for foster parents in the Golden State is to be totally unsuited to be a foster parent. The acting and the direction of the film are good, but the plot could have been better. 6/10

There is a big difference between the book and the movie, but I think the movie covers most of the important parts in the time frame that they have. The actresses chosen for this movie were perfect, even though the character of Claire is different in the book in terms of looks. I think the writers chose the right parts of the book to tell. I do wish that the movie portrayed the mindset of each character better, especially Astrid. For instance, Uncle Ray is much younger and attractive in the movie than he is in the book. What the movie doesn't show enough is how Astrid is interested in much older men who are actually in their 40's. Nevertheless, this is a must watch movie. It shows a lot about women and their emotions.

I'm not so attracted to the drama genre but this movie was actually very good. It tells the story of a woman with one daughter who goes to jails due to murdering her boyfriend; now she goes from foster to foster experiencing both positive and negative things. I just saw this movie and discovered what a masterpiece this is; it was entertaining at first but afterwards got depressing which caused me sadness. Then again I felt weirdly sadly happy at the end and didn't know really why. This isn't a light-hearting movie but yet it's good and just succeeds at almost every level. I found the acting to be good and the writing to be well down and as will as the direction and effects and all that stuff, but I wished their wasn't so much sadness in the movie and mostly I found sadness coming from that background music. Anyway, for all those who hadn't seen the film, I encourage you to see this one and I can assure you won't regreet but please don't be a negative viewer, and what I mean about that, the events of this movie runs somewhat slow; their's not that much of action but even though the movie itself is good; I'm usually not fond of movies with slow events but this movie seriously attracted me cause it opened my heart to make me realise how excellent it is. I can't express how I'm in love with this movie I just feel so passionate about it so I would like to thank the whole cast and crew and especially the writer not forgetting the author of the novel which without it, this movie never would've existed.

It is likely that if you enjoyed "Speak" (2004) you will connect with "White Oleander" (2002). Both are based on novels about a traumatized teenage girl who overcomes mega-adversity; heroines who get stronger as the story progresses. Both are told entirely from the point-of- view of this central character; Melinda (Kristen Stewart) in "Speak" and Astrid (Alison Lohman) in "White Oleander". Both actresses are physically small and the directors in each film effectively utilize this to reinforce their vulnerability. And each Cinematographer gets maximum effect from the camera as both films are filled with tight shots of the heroine's face. Like Stewart, Lohman gives an incredible non-verbal performance, which is nicely offset by her voice-over narration. Astrid's flat and distanced narration is often contradicted by the crushing emotional trauma she is experiencing on the screen, this dichotomy is a very effective way to illustrate her inner strength and multi- dimensionality. "White Oleander's" strength is the way it soft-peddles the overwrought melodrama by skimping on the "Mommie Dearest" moments. Instead of a focus on the relationship between an imprisoned mother (Ingrid-played Michelle Pfeiffer) and her abandoned daughter, the film is about Astrid's journeys; her physical travels around the Los Angeles area to different foster care situations and her internal journey from dependency to independence. Mother and daughter are both artists (although Astrid is also an observer) and the director symbolically incorporates color into the story. White is "Ingrid's color and Astrid's eventual independence occurs when she adopts black as her color late in the film. When she finally comes to terms with how much of her mother is in her, she returns to white. The blondes are out in force as Robin Wright Penn and Renee Zellweger play two of Astrid's foster mothers. All three supporting performances are excellent. Pfeiffer plays a humorless version of her "I Could Never Be Your Woman" mother; a mix of ascetically refined artist and imperious sociopath. Lohman has all of Pfeiffer's delicate beauty so the mother-daughter connection requires no suspension of disbelief. Astrid's foster kid desperation for family leads her to adopt the characteristics of her caretakers, adopting religion while with born-again ex-stripper Starr (Wright Penn) and yuppie indulgence while with depressed actress Claire (Zellweger). There's a tragic quality to Claire that is unlike anything Zellweger has done before. She is the anathema of Astrid's chilly, threatened mother. This is a film where the make-up and hair people earned their pay as Astrid's adaptation and life changes are underscored with very effective changes in her physical appearance. As in "Speak" flashbacks are effectively used at points throughout the story. The DVD special features commentary is about as good as it gets. The author Janet Fitch is featured along with Director Peter Kosminsky and Producer John Wells. Fitch seems quite pleased with the adaptation of her novel and seems to get it that a modest budget feature film can only focus on a portion of her original story. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.