Flowers in the Attic (2014 film)

Flowers in the Attic
Genre	Drama Romance Thriller
Based on	Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews
Screenplay by	Kayla Alpert
Directed by	Deborah Chow
Starring	Heather Graham Ellen Burstyn Kiernan Shipka Mason Dye Ava Telek
Theme music composer	Mario Grigorov
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Charles W. Fries Lisa Hamilton-Daly Merideth Finn Tanya Lopez Michele Weiss Rob Sharenow
Producers	Harvey Kahn Damian Ganczewski
Cinematography	Miroslaw Baszak Vivaan Salvi
Editor	Jamie Alain
Running time	86 minutes
Production companies	Front Street Pictures, Inc. Cue the Dog Productions Fries Film Company, Inc.
Original release
Network	Lifetime
Release	January 14, 2014 (2014-01-14)

Flowers in the Attic is a 2014 Lifetime movie, starring Kiernan Shipka, Ellen Burstyn, Mason Dye, and Heather Graham. It is the second adaptation of V. C. Andrews’ 1979 novel of the same name. A sequel, Petals on the Wind, based on the novel of the same name, premiered on May 26, 2014, on Lifetime. The network announced the developing of the following books in the series, If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday, which both aired in 2015.

Plot

In the late 1950s, the Dollanganger children — 14-year-old Chris, 12-year-old Cathy, 5-year-old twins Carrie and Cory — live happily with their parents, Christopher and Corrine, in Pennsylvania. This changes when Christopher dies in a car crash, leaving the family devastated and heavily in debt. Four months later, Corrine announces they are going to go live with her wealthy parents in Virginia. She explains that she was estranged from her parents and changed her last name because of this.

On arrival at Foxworth Hall, Corrine's grim, claustrophobic and cold-hearted mother, Olivia, takes the children to a small room in the attic. The next day, the children are given a list of rules and Olivia tells them to stay in the attic at all times. Corrine explains that her father, Malcolm, disowned her for eloping with Christopher, who was actually her biological half-uncle (her father's younger half-brother) and they were disinherited. She promises the children she will make her father forgive her; once he has forgiven her, she will introduce him to the children, and they will live happily together at Foxworth.

Corrine's visits to the attic become less frequent as she begins to enjoy her new-found wealth and starts a relationship with her father's lawyer, Bart Winslow. She informs the children that while her father has forgiven her, she can't let them meet him because she claimed that she didn't have any children; thus, they will have to remain in the attic until Malcolm dies. Corrine's visits all but cease during the next year. Due to lack of fresh air and sunshine, the twins have stopped growing; meanwhile, Cathy and Chris are entering puberty. Chris accidentally walks in on Cathy while she is trying on her first bra. Olivia catches them and calls them sinners and tries to cut off Cathy's hair as punishment. Chris stops her, but she threatens to starve them for a week if he doesn't cut Cathy's hair himself. Cathy and Chris refuse to comply and give their remaining food to the twins while they rely mostly on water. Olivia appears to relent and leaves them a basket of food; however, Cathy awakens to find tar in her hair the next morning. As Chris reluctantly cuts her hair, he tells her that he finds her beautiful, but knows it is wrong to think of her like that.

Another year passes and Corrine hasn't visited in months. Cathy and Chris conclude that their mother has abandoned them and begin planning their escape. When Corrine does return, she happily announces she has married Bart and the reason for her absence was her honeymoon in Europe. She is upset that the children are not more excited and seems oblivious to the deterioration in the twins. Olivia soon brings the children sugar-powdered doughnuts, which she says are a gift from their mother. Olivia beats Chris with a belt after he demands to be called by his name rather than "boy." Cathy tends to his wounds and admits her fear of losing him. Chris asssures her nothing will happen to him and they kiss. When Olivia comes to deliver their food, Chris tells her that she was right about them being the "devil's spawn" and pleads for forgiveness. After she leaves, Chris reveals the whole scene was a scheme to get an impression of the attic key in soap, and he carves a wooden copy.

Now able to leave the attic, Cathy and Chris begin to steal money from their mother's room to finance an escape by train. On a night raid, Cathy finds Bart asleep and kisses him. Chris later overhears his mother and Bart talking about a dream of a young, blond-haired girl coming into the room and kissing Bart. Chris angrily confronts Cathy, who assures him that the kiss meant nothing and she only did it out of curiosity. She kisses him and they end up having sex. Cathy suggests they move to Florida and Chris tells her that he loves her and can never love anyone else. Cathy tells Olivia and Corrine that Cory is sick and demands her mother take Cory to a hospital, threatening revenge if she doesn't. The next day, Corrine tells them Cory had pneumonia and died, and has already been buried.

Devastated by Cory's death and in fear for their lives, Cathy and Chris decide to take all the money they have collected and grab as much jewelry as they can to finally escape. During their search for valuables, they discover that Corrine and Bart have left Foxworth Hall. Chris overhears a conversation between the butler and a maid, and learns that Olivia has been leaving poison to kill "the mice" in the attic and that their grandfather died seven months ago. Cathy shows Chris how Cory's pet mouse has died after eating a piece of powdered doughnut, revealing that the poison was in their food. Olivia then comes to take their key, and Chris restrains her long enough for Cathy and Carrie to escape. Olivia chases after them, but panics due to her claustrophobia when Chris shuts the door and turns the lights off. Olivia tells them that their mother was the one who poisoned them, not her, but they ignore her and climb out the window, fleeing on foot.

During their escape, they run into the butler, who realizes they are Corrine's children. Horrified, he tells them to run while he cuts off the electric fence for them. They board a train to Florida and Chris assures her that their ordeal is finally over. Cathy vows revenge on their mother.

Cast

• Heather Graham as Corrine Dollanganger/Foxworth
• Ellen Burstyn as Olivia Foxworth
• Kiernan Shipka as Cathy Dollanganger
• Mason Dye as Christopher "Chris" Dollanganger, Jr.
• Ava Telek as Carrie Dollanganger
• Maxwell Kovach as Cory Dollanganger
• Dylan Bruce as Bart Winslow
• Chad Willett as Christopher Dollanganger, Sr.
• Beau Daniels as Malcolm Foxworth
• Andrew Kavadas as John Amos
• Don Thompson as the Train Conductor
• Tiara Moodley as passing by train passenger

Production

Casting

Flowers in the Attic was first announced on July 23, 2013 as a television film for the Lifetime network. It was also announced that the film would star Heather Graham as Corrine Dollanganger and Ellen Burstyn as Olivia Foxworth. It was also announced that the film would be directed by Deborah Chow and written by Kayla Alpert.

On August 14 it was announced that Kiernan Shipka and Mason Dye had been cast as Cathy and Chris respectively. During the same month, it was announced that Dylan Bruce had joined the cast as Bart Winslow, Corrine's love interest.

Release

Broadcast

In its original televised airing, the film was watched by 6.06 million total viewers, and had a rating (percentage) of 1.9 in the 18-49 age demographic. At the time, it was cable's number-one original movie performance since the October 2012 premiere of Steel Magnolias.

Home media

On April 15, 2014, Flowers in the Attic was released in DVD format for Region 1. The single disc featured the entire film, as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette with the cast and crew. It was later re-released on June 23, 2015, with Petals on the Wind as a "Double Feature." On November 10, 2015, it was included in a "4-Film Collection" with Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, and Seeds of Yesterday.

Reception

Critical response

Flowers in the Attic received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 52% of 23 critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.5 out of ten. The film averaged 49 out of 100, based on 22 critics, on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

For her performance, Burstyn was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award, Primetime Emmy Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. Similarly, Shipka was nominated an Online Film & Television Association Award for her performance.

Sequels

Based on the next book of the Dollanganger series, Petals on the Wind premiered on Lifetime on May 26, 2014, earning 3.4 million viewers, down from the 6.1 million earned by Flowers. Unlike the book, the film jumped ten years ahead from the events of Flowers. It starred Rose McIver as Cathy, Wyatt Nash as Christopher, replacing Kiernan Shipka and Mason Dye from the previous movie, respectively, and Will Kemp as Julian Marquet, with Heather Graham as Corrine and Ellen Burstyn as Olivia Foxworth. Production for the film began on February 25, 2014, in Los Angeles.

On the premiere of the sequel, Lifetime announced the production of the two following books in the Dollanganger series, If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday, both which premiered in 2015. Both sequels were shot by cinematographer James Liston. In order to achieve the timeless cinematic look, vintage anamorphic lenses were used to create more depth and atmosphere in the images.

External links

• Flowers in the Attic at IMDb