WHITE OLEANDER

Year: 2002
USA: Warner Bros
UK: Redbus
Cast: Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger, Billy Connolly, Svetlana Efremova, Patrick Fugit, Cole Hauser, Noah Wyle, Scott Allan Campbell, Amy Aquino, Mark Soper, Elisa Bocanegra, Sam Catlin, Debra Christofferson, Marc Donato, Leila Kenzle, Cathy Ladman, Drinda Lalumia, James Lashly, Taryn Manning, Melissa Marsala, John Billingsley, Melissa McCarthy, Roger McIntyre, Brian Mulligan, Allison Munn, Kali Rocha, Stephen Root, Jennifer Saxon, Samantha Shelton, Liz Stauber, Carl Sundstrom, Biff Yeager
Director: Peter Kosminsky
Country: USA
UK: 109 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for mature thematic elements concerning dysfunctional relationships, drug content, language, sexuality and violence
UK Certificate: 12A contains mild sexual references and one use of strong language
USA Release Date: 11 October 2002
UK Release Date: 19 September 2003


Synopsis

Oleander can be poisonous... So can a mother's love.

WHITE OLEANDER tells the unforgettable story of Astrid, a girl whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes - each its own universe with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned - becomes a redeeming journey of self-discovery. Based on the acclaimed best-selling novel by Janet Fitch, WHITE OLEANDER follows a young woman's journey through hardship and loss to maturity, joy and true independence.

After her uncompromising but seductive mother Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) kills her boyfriend for abandoning her, fifteen-year-old Astrid (Alison Lohman) witnesses her mother's arrest. It's an event that will change the course of both their lives. Suddenly, young Astrid is on her own.

Shuttled through a series of foster homes (and foster mothers including Robin Wright Penn and Renee Zellweger), Astrid struggles to master the techniques she needs if she's to survive the unyielding and often harsh world she is thrust into. Astrid tries desperately to forge her own identity within her ever-changing environment. From behind bars, Ingrid's powerful influence is the only constant in Astrid's life. For good, and for bad...

In the three years that mark her passage from child to adult, Astrid must learn the value of independence and courage, rage and forgiveness, love and survival, to earn her freedom from the past.