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Set to the perspective of thoroughly concatenated vignettes, White Oleander trails Astrid (Alison Lohman) along her routes of displacement after her ultra-chary, procrustean mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) commits murder. It’s a bumpy ride on the paths to foster homes: the not-so-eager start with “bible-thumping trailer-trash” where Astrid ends up getting shot by the Jesus Freak mother (feuding with jealousy over her married-boyfriend’s involvement with Astrid); an orphanage for the in-limbo/derelict/unadoptable; the cozy comforts of a b-grade actress (Renée Zellweger) and her oft-absent husband; the household of a Russian fashion-pimp’s collection of abandoned. (Zellweger, undoubtedly a good sport, not only appears in a sallow, unflattering light, she also freely pokes fun at herself as an in-joke with a clip from Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.) Apart from the fact that the film doesn’t, and probably wouldn’t, completely have adequate time to spend at each locale, compromises must be made. The segues are established by the ever-alternating length or color of Astrid’s hair, the audible expansion of maturity, the transformations her moral character sees. Early on, the influence from the mother upon the impressionable girl’s growth is camouflaged as parental guidance. Between Astrid’s transitions, she slowly comes to the realization that it is her mother who serves as a metaphorical cancer, jading and soiling any proper encouragement in assistance. Eventually, as displayed, but not before she is gently persuaded by those she encounters in passing, the extrinsic cynicism is similarly adopted regardless of the newfound carapace, and the girl becomes her own cancer due in part from all the moral ambiguities unfairly thrown at her. The gradual deterioration of sorts is something of a correctable ail, and the film respectfully heeds to the self-discovery. In other words, the end result of the upward journey can additionally take multiple turns for the downside. American films, especially of this variety, have the tendency to extirpate subtleties from its material; White Oleander manages to preserve much of what it has to offer, despite noticeable and apparent glosses, but there are still too many nuances and quodlibets that are either minimized or over-emphasized. Kosminsky, thankfully, never under- or overstates the underlying feminist roots (“Remember every tear”), taking it as it comes and delegating the virtues to individuals and individual incidents instead of typical broad applications. Much of the power behind the film’s plucky girl can directly be credited to Alison Lohman, vaguely reminiscent of a young Sarah Polley. Lohman’s restraint from the obvious banalities of the role, and her sophistication in layering the multi-faceted character, prove highly ambitious yet remarkably distinguished. And Pfeiffer, playing her second role from an Oprah-sanctioned book (The Deep End of the Ocean), despite being immured, returns to the screen — notwithstanding the mawkish I am Sam — with renascence.

With Robin Wright-Penn, Patrick Fugit and Noah Wyle.

[Worth-seeing.]

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originally posted: 10/26/02 01:20:02
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