White Oleander centres on fifteen-year-old Astrid (Lohman). Astrid lives an unusual but satisfying life with her mother Ingrid (Pfeiffer), a beautiful, free-spirited poet. Until, in a jealous rage, Ingrid murders her boyfriend Barry (Connolly) with the deadly poison of her favourite flower: With her mother in prison, Astrid is plunged into foster home after foster home. Her first foster mother is the spandex-loving Starr (Wright Penn), a former stripper and alcoholic who fosters children and proclaims Christianity in a twisted attempt at salvation. Next up is Claire (Zellweger), a B-grade actress on suicide watch. Throughout nearly a decade Astrid experiences forbidden love, religion, near-death experiences, drugs, starvation, and how it feels to be loved. But throughout these years, she keeps in touch with her mother via letters to prison.

Penned by Mary Agnes Donoghue (Beaches), White Oleander could be dismissed as a 'chick flick'. What elevates this film above most 'chick flicks', however, are the utterly mesmerising and convincing performances from Alison Lohman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn. Overall White Oleander is a complex, skilfully directed film which shows just how far you can travel without travelling very far at all

Alexandra (Buday) is a wife. She is bored (she lives in Adelaide), and she hates Steve, her husband (Sweet). This film is mostly about why she hates her husband, and the way that she fights back at him. Alexandra is a mother too, but the children are not featured in the struggle

This movie is not for lovers of the great outdoors, or action, (like me) because it is mostly set in one room, with her speaking to him from a TV. If you are used to Gary Sweet from 'Police Rescue' or 'Water Rats', then this may be a bit too claustrophobic for you

The term 'sexual politics' was made for this movie. The 'project' is a video tape that she has been making for months, and she delivers it to him for his birthday. It starts by playing to his fantasies but gradually gets darker and darker. It is not a happy family video. It was hard at times to predict what was going on, so I was always watching for clues, and I am not going to reveal the plot outline here. My advice is for you to pick either (a) her or (b) him and cheer for them through the movie, then hope that you don't turn out the same way. As a man, I wanted Steve to succeed, but it was very difficult to do at times