White Oleander: chick flick power

White Oleander is beyond good, possibly even beyond great, for one sole phenomenal characteristic: it makes you think. But it does so with such subtlety, with such grace of plot and script, that it leaves viewer interpretation of its varying messages open, not taking one specific side. The film masters easily the complex task of realistic characterization by portraying human personalities as indistinct blurs, with no real distinction between good and evil.

It's a reflective meditation on the heavy concepts of family, duty, and love, managing to present intricately calculated circumstances in which basic societal values are questioned. And all these concepts are demonstrated through one central situation: an increasingly unstable mother-daughter relationship as daughter comes of age. Pretty standard fare, yet with such unusual outside factors and details that it seems a novel concept.

Astrid (Alison Lohman) is the daughter struggling to find herself in the midst of her mother's influence and direction, and artist Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the mother striving to keep her precious little girl exactly that— a little girl. But enter in several atypical dynamics: Ingrid is soon jailed for the murder of her boyfriend and Astrid (a burgeoning artist herself) is thrown in three foster homes in as many years, left helplessly adrift on the brink of womanhood.

At first, it seems like everything is going to be A-OK for Astrid, as her first foster mother Starr (Robin Wright-Penn) is both accommodating and friendly, providing Astrid with a room, clothes, and a family. Yet Starr and Astrid's relationship degenerates upon Starr's realization that young, naturally blonde Astrid is quite a tantalizing attraction for her boyfriend Ray.

Astrid's journey through the next two foster homes is a series in contrast, as each of the three homes provides her with new, different insight on life and more importantly, on her mother. Throughout her experiences, Ingrid is always there, pervading Astrid's sense of security with letters and demoralizing visits, trying to sink shrinking claws into Astrid's new lives.

Michelle Pfeiffer deserves Oscar nominations for her disturbingly accurate portrayal of Ingrid as insidiously, stunningly evil. Chiseled features and cold agate eyes are the perfect combination for Ingrid's beauty-disguised malevolence. The other blonde mothers give stellar performances as well; Renee Zellweger is perfectly needy and naïve as Astrid's second foster mother Claire and Robin Wright-Penn has just the jagged edge of an ex-stripper turned Christian.

But in the end, it's all about Alison Lohman, and surprisingly, that works. Lohman is both mature and inexperienced with old, wise eyes but a preteen's youthful voice. She is the flower that blooms in poison, maturing into a loving woman despite the aridity of her homes. Indeed, she is White Oleander—and she does pretty well as it, too.