There are lots of interesting ideas in 'White Oleander', a film about a girl (Astrid) trying to make her way through California's child support system after her brilliant but overpowering mother is imprisoned. There'as also a fine performance from Michelle Pfeiffer as the mother, who conveys a hint a madness each time she rolls her eyes about her feline face. But it's a pity a lot of the execution is so unsubtle. The mother's crime, for example, is murder; while in foster care the girl first finds a foster-mum who tries to kill her, and then one who succeeds in killing herself. Each of these events are plausible in themselves, but not altogether, and tragedy does not require death on this scale. While the initially clever way the film starts to divert our sympathy away from the mother becomes increasingly obvious, and slightly dishonest when it undermines the idea originally conveyed that mother and daughter had been close. The film also suffers from a slight overdose of Hollywood gloss: everyone is beautiful, everyone is talented, in part this is justified by the plot but one sometimes despairs of ever seeing someone normal-looking in a leading movie role. These flaws mean that 'White Oleander' is far from a great film; but its ambition (to explore complexity in human relationships) keeps it interesting, even if its realisation doesn't quite deliver the potential of its ideas.
Review of White Oleander
