Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Astrid (Alison Lohman) provide a compelling insight into the dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship in the melodrama White Oleander.

Thinking chick’s flick
White Oleander


Stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Alison Lohman, Renee Zellweger, Billy Connelly, Noah Wyle and Robin Wright Penn. Rated M

Reviewer :: Pte Simone Heyer

This film, adapted from a book, follows a few years in the life of Astrid (Lohman), a beautiful young blonde.

She idolises her artist mother, Ingrid (Pfeiffer), who is as strong and dangerous as she is beautiful.

In fact, Astrid’s world is full of beautiful blonde women. She journeys between each relationship with them, until she realises her own identity.

She begins the first leg of her journey when her mother goes to jail for murder.

Astrid is placed in a foster home in the boonies to live with white trailer trash, Starr (Wright Penn), a God-fearing skimpy-skirt wearing woman who fosters kids for money, gets drunk then noisily has relations with her already married boyfriend.

Astrid starts to fit in to the family, joins the church and becomes born again. Before long, Starr thinks Astrid is involved with her boyfriend. Things get out of control and before long, Astrid ends up on her way to a group hostel for youths.

She uses the strength her mother taught her to survive, then gets bundled off to the next foster home.

Here actress Claire (Zellweger) becomes her best friend and confidant. Astrid becomes confident and blooms under Claire’s care.

Ingrid identifies Claire as being weak and needy, and talks her into doubting her relationship with her husband. Soon Astrid is back to the hostel until she picks her own foster mother – a Russian with a string of other foster daughters.

Astrid becomes dark and angry, hating her mother and vying for control with her foster mother who has her sifting through people’s rubbish bins for clothes.

She realises her mother still has control over her life, even from within the confines of the jail.

She agrees to testify in her mother’s favour at a retrial, in exchange for her emotional freedom.

Her mother is shocked – but we see she later concedes. With someone so strong trying to lead her life, Astrid can’t become her own person, so when Ingrid bows out, Astrid begins to bloom again.

The blurb for the movie is “where does a mother’s love end, and a daughter’s begin?” And that’s what this film is about. A mother-daughter relationship and what makes or breaks it.

White Oleander is the type of film that leaves you thinking about it long after it’s finished.

It is definitely a chick flick – but a thinking chick’s flick, not a shallow action-packed Hollywood blockbuster. It takes you somewhere and teaches you something.

Simone rates this movie