White Oleander (2002) on Netflix
Ingrid Magnussen, a poet in Los Angeles, murders a man with white oleander poison and is sent to prison. Her fifteen-year-old daughter Astrid enters a series of foster homes.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.1/1035,074 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes69%
Trailer
Plot summary
Astrid Magnussen is fifteen and lives in Los Angeles with Ingrid, her mother, a free-spirited artist and poet. She was too young to remember her father and depends on Ingrid, who is in a relationship with Barry Kolker, a writer. When Ingrid learns Barry has been unfaithful, she murders him with the poison of white oleander and is imprisoned. Astrid enters foster care, first with Starr Thomas, a former stripper who is a recovering alcoholic and a born-again Christian. Starr has her baptized into the church, and Starr's boyfriend Ray shares the house with Starr's children. Astrid and Ingrid keep in touch by letters.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about White Oleander (2002)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film clip that Claire (Renée Zellweger) shows Astrid as an example of her acting career is Zellweger's own early performance in The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1994.
- Barbra Streisand turned down offers both to direct the film and to play Ingrid Magnussen; principal photography began on April 23, 2001, with filming taking place in Santa Clarita, California.
- Alison Lohman wore a wig throughout filming because she had just finished playing a cancer patient in deleted scenes from the 2002 film Dragonfly.
- The screenplay was adapted from Janet Fitch's 1999 novel White Oleander, which had been selected for Oprah's Book Club in May 1999.
