Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles
available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. White Oleander
(2002) is an American motion picture drama directed by Peter Kosminsky.
The cast features Alison Lohman in the central role of Astrid Magnussen,
and Michelle Pfeiffer as her temperamental mother Ingrid, alongside
Robin Wright Penn, Renée Zellweger, Billy Connolly and Patrick Fugit in
supporting roles. The screenplay was adapted from the novel of the same
name by Janet Fitch, which was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 1999.
The narrator, Astrid Magnussen (Alison Lohman), is the fifteen-year-old
daughter of a free-spirited artist, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer). Her
father having left before she was old enough to remember him, Astrid
depends heavily upon the maternal care of her passionate, but largely
self-centered mother. Ingrid's current relationship, with a vulgar man
named Barry (Billy Connolly), comes to an end when he is discovered to
be a womanizer, and her emotional response leads her to murder him using
poison (white oleander). Ingrid is arrested and sentenced to life in
prison, leaving Astrid without parents and in need of foster care.
