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 White
Oleander, directed by Peter Kosminsky and adapted from the Janet
Fitch best-seller, tends to settle for easy, homiletic insights.
But it also has a collection of first-rate performances by some
marvellous actresses. As the mother imprisoned for murdering her
lover, Michelle Pfeiffer looks like an angelic harridan and is scarily
uncompromising. As her daughter, who passes through a series of
foster homes, Alison Lohman is gravely touching. Memorable also
are Robin Wright Penn as a born-again sexpot and, best of all, Renée
Zellweger as a foster mother trying to hold on to her sad life.
(1 hr. 50 mins.; PG-13) — PETER RAINER
Opens October 11
• Showtimes
& tickets (movietickets.com)
Spotlight: Director Peter Kosminsky
"It was aiming high for a low-budget movie on a dark subject," British
director Peter Kosminsky says of his desire to cast Michelle Pfeiffer
in White Oleander, his first American film. The movie follows
a 14-year-old named Astrid (Alison Lohman) through L.A. foster care
after her mother (Pfeiffer) is imprisoned for murder. "Astrid's
exterior is so different from her interior that everyone wondered
how we'd get that kind of performance from a young, unknown actress,"
Kosminsky says. Pfeiffer, he notes, was convinced once she saw Kosminsky's
1997 TV movie No Child of Mine, based on the true story of
a sexually abused child, which also starred a relative neophyte.
"She had been so affected by it, she wanted to talk," Kosminsky
says, and soon she agreed to star. "Then suddenly it was carrying
these huge names," he says of a cast that also includes Robin Wright
Penn (pictured, above, with Lohman) and Renée Zellweger. "The
scene where Michelle meets Renée -- who plays one of Astrid's
foster mothers -- is one of the magic moments of my life." —
MONICA KHEMSUROV
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