White Oleander
Short description
Astrid Magnussen is a teenager living in California with her mother, Ingrid, an artist. Their life together ends when Ingrid is arrested for killing her partner, Barry, after he tries to leave her. With her mother imprisoned, Astrid enters the foster care system and is moved from one home to another, adapting each time to new rules and new people. She forms connections along the way, including with Claire Richards, an unhappily married woman who takes her in, but her mother's influence continues to reach her. Based on Janet Fitch's novel.
The film was directed by Peter Kosminsky, arriving between his 1992 adaptation of Wuthering Heights and the 2007 television work Britz, from a screenplay by Mary Agnes Donoghue. Alison Lohman plays Astrid, with Michelle Pfeiffer as Ingrid, Renée Zellweger as Claire, Robin Wright as Starr and Cole Hauser as Ray among a credited cast of 36.
Made on a budget of 16 million USD, White Oleander took about 22 million USD worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 7.1/10 from 36,000 votes, and on TMDB 7/10 from 432 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 6.6/10 from 134 reviews, placing it close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- What is a 'white oleander'? Oleander is an evergreen shrub and a relative of nightshade. The flowers of the white oleander are poisonous.
- Throughout the film, Allison Lohman wears wigs because shortly before filming, she finished work on a film about a girl with cancer; for that role, her head had been shaved bald.
- Renée Zellweger's character mentions an episode from the beginning of her film career; this is a reference to one of Renée's earliest film appearances – in the horror film "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1994).
- Janet Finch's novel 'White Oleander', published in 1999, was selected for the Oprah's Book Club.
- The film is based on Janet Fitch's novel 'White Oleander' (1999).
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