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White Oleander
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Kosminsky
Produced by	Hunt Lowry John Wells
Written by	Screenplay Mary Agnes Donoghue Novel Janet Fitch
Starring	Alison Lohman Michelle Pfeiffer Robin Wright Penn Renee Zellweger
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Elliot Davis
Editing by	Chris Ridsdale
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	October 11, 2002
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States Germany
Language	English

White Oleander is a 2002 drama film directed by Peter Kosminsky. It was adapted to screenplay by Mary Agnes Donoghue from Janet Fitch's novel of the same name. The cast includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Renée Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn, and Alison Lohman.

Plot

Ingrid Magnussen is a free-spirited mother to 15 year-old Astrid. Ingrid falls in love with a man but ends up with a broken heart. In a crime of passion, she kills the man with the deadly poison of the white oleander. She is sentenced to life in prison - and her daughter is sent from foster home to foster home. Through each foster home, Astrid has experiences both positive and negative. Astrid and Ingrid keep in touch through mail, trying to teach other important lessons about each other. Astrid eventually forges a life separate from her mother.

Cast

• Alison Lohman as Astrid Magnussen
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Ingrid Magnussen
• Robin Wright Penn as Starr Thomas
• Renée Zellweger as Claire Richards
• Amy Aquino as Ms. Martinez
• Billy Connolly as Barry Kolker
• Svetlana Efremova as Rena Gruschenka
• Patrick Fugit as Paul Trout
• Cole Hauser as Ray
• Liz Stauber as Carolee
• Noah Wyle as Mark Richards
• Marc Donato as Davey Thomas

Differences between film & novel

• In the beginning, Astrid is 15 in the film unlike 12 in the novel .
• Astrid is not as promiscuous as she is in the novel; it is only assumed that she has an affair with Starr's boyfriend Ray. In the film however Starr still believes they are having an affair, without proof & shoots her in a drunken rage still as in the novel. She also doesn't have an affair with Rena's boyfriend as in the novel.
• The characters of the Turlocks, Amelia Ramos, & Olivia Johnstone are eliminated from the film.
• Astrid meets Paul Trout right after arriving at McKinney Hall (MacLaren's Center in the novel) & she stays there twice in the film: once after her stay with Starr & again after Claire commits suicide.
• Ingrid is kinder, more loving & attentive to Astrid in the film than in the novel but still neglects parent related activities like parent-teacher night prior to her arrest.
• In the novel Ingrid is a poet; in the film she is an artist & photographer
• Claire's husband is named Mark in the film; Ron in the novel. In the film there is no reference to it being New Year's when Claire commits suicide.

• The biggest difference is in the novel is Ingrid is released after winning an appeals trial & in the film she is not. Ingrid offers Astrid money to lie in court but Astrid refuses after Ingrid tells her a story about how she left her with a caretaker for 1 year when she was a baby. At the film's end Astrid voices over about people wanting to buy her collection of suitcases she has made into art detailing her life's journey. She lives with Paul in an apartment in New York (Berlin in the novel).As she reads a story of the LA Times with her mother in it featuring a series of prison collages she has constructed; she acknowledges her mother loves her, also after Ingrid had ultimately refused to let Astrid lie & testify in the appeals trial that might have freed her.

Production

Barbra Streisand was offered the chance to direct this film, as well as play the role of Ingrid Magnussen, but she turned it down because she was afraid that the time she had to commit to this film would be overwhelming.^[1]

References

External links

• White Oleander at the Internet Movie Database
• Michelle Pfeiffer interview for White Oleander
• Movie stills