If you've had a good education which means you have read
Oliver Twist you'd get the idea that a kid without parents is in
pretty bad shape. In Nineteenth Century England, you could get a
crack across the face for asking for another bowl of soup in the
better orphanages. Though the adorable Alison Lohman in the
role of Astrid Magnussen is alleged to have seen more tumult in a
bunch of foster homes than most of us have seen in a lifetime,
don't believe it. She's pretty well off, even if her foster parents are
as neurotic as her real-life mom. Coming off as a TV Misery-of-
the-Week episode but redeemed by Peter Kosminsky's sharp eye
for directing and for Michelle Pfieffer in her most expressive role,
"White Oleander" entertains its female audience well even the
men therein who may be inside the theater for no better reason
than to ogle the fetching Ms. Magnussen.
Taking its name from the flower that looks charming on the
outside but is poisonous within (sort of the opposite of a sabra),
the film's title character (if you will) is an artist who not unlike
many others in her field attracts men who are not always there for
them. Ingrid Magnussen (Michelle Pfeiffer) has brought up a child,
Astrid (Alison Lohman) who does not know her dad and who looks
with awe as she watches mom relating to a new beau,Barry (Billy
Connolly). They llook really good together in their upscale
California restaurant. We find out that either looks are deceiving
or that people are moody, because some time after their food date
Ingrid murders the guy and gets sent to a facility that will spend
35 years to life to correct her.
Much of what we watch, in fact, shows us that what you see is
not always what you get. In one foster home, for example, she
enjoys a groovy relationship with a failed actress, Claire (Renee
Zellweger), who lives in an upscale beach home, jogs at the
water's edge, and by all appearances has it made. Only trouble is
that her more successful actor man, Mark (Noah Wyle), is away
from home most of the time and not always tied up with shooting
pictures. In another foster home, Astrid gets along OK with a
Bible-thumping ex-drunk, Starr (Robin Wright Penn), only to mess
that deal up when Starr's husband understandably has more eyes
for Astrid.
"White Oleander" is a coming-of-age story that hones in on
young Astrid who is confused and often depressed despite her
good looks, partly, it seems, because she does not know her
biological father and appears afraid to push her mother into
revealing the information. Her mom is the possessive type, going
inwardly ballistic every time Astrid tells her in their jailhouse
conferences about her terrific foster people. In fits of jealousy,
Ingrid puts down everyone with whom the young woman is relating
at the time. With the attention of a coeval comic-book artist, Paul
(Patrick Fugit), she begins to realize herself, to become
empowered as the slogan du jour would have it, which allows her
not only to free herself from her mother's clutches but to make her
mom see the evil of her ways and to let go.
"Where does a mother end and a daughter begin?" says the
tagline. The answer, physically at least, is at the jailhouse gate.
Psychologically it's at the moment that the adolescent sees
herself as a person separate from her mom, to shuck off the bad
counsel given to her while reveling in the thought that her artistic
talent was developed by the same adult. "White Oleander" is a
pleasant diversion, pretty conventional and free from eccentric film
styles, which appears to have suffered in part from the absence of
strong erotic scenes in order to squeeze out a PG-13.
Copyright © 2002 Harvey Karten
out of 4
