Movie:

Disc:
1/2

The Movie: Unsettling movies can work if they provoke thought or make a point. (See In the Company of Men or Requiem for a Dream.) But if that point is muddled, so too are viewers, who feel like they've received an undeserved slap in the face. Following this reasoning, White Oleander is a stinging wallop. Adapted from Janet Fitch's best-selling novel of the same name, Oleander tells the story of Astrid (Alison Lohman), a bright, sensitive teenager, and her mother, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), a passionate artist. When Ingrid's fiery reaction to her lover's indiscretions land her in jail, Astrid is bounced to a state facility and then through a series of momentarily rewarding but ultimately disastrous foster homes. Each experience (and the omnipresence of her manipulative mother) leaves Astrid so damaged that by the end of the film she has to fight to smile. Despite many strong performances, the film's plot rushes from one struggle to the next. It's like watching a monarch butterfly slowly get pulled through a table fan—the tragedy is so relentless that it's hard to focus on the fact that the beautiful creature may have actually survived the ordeal.

The Disc: The commentary (mostly featuring director Peter Kosminsky and author Fitch) and the deleted scenes give a sense of how rounded the film could have been . —L.B.

Adapted from Janet Fitch's Oprah-favored best-seller, White Oleander is a fraught-with-incident picture about the growing pains of Astrid Magnussen (Alison Lohman), a sensitive teen who gets bounced around a series of motley foster homes after her crazy-artiste mom murders a lover. It's a multiform demonstration of Tolstoy's adage that all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way (and how!), and as sagas of screwed-up mother-daughter relationships go, this beats Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in a walk. Unfortunately, the picture often succumbs to the old making-literal-that-which-should-be-imagined fallacy so common with book adaptations. When Fitch's Astrid talks about her mother growing more beautiful in prison, the reader attributes it to some preternatural evil; seeing Michelle Pfeiffer appear at the inmates' yard with a golden glow, this viewer thought, Damn, they have some great skin-care products in the joint!