Flowers in the Attic (2014 film)

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Flowers in the Attic is a 2014 Lifetime movie, starring Kiernan Shipka, Ellen Burstyn, Mason Dye, and Heather Graham. It is the second adaption of the 1979 novel of the same name by V. C. Andrews. 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, both set to air in 2015.

Plot

In the late 1950s, the Dollanganger family – 14-year-old Chris, 12-year-old Cathy, 4-year-old twins Carrie and Cory and their parents Christopher and Corrine – live happily together in Pennsylvania. Corrine works as a housekeeper and their father in a sales department and is promoted to Vice President. Cathy worries that he'll be home less, but he gives her a promise ring with the assurance he will always love her. Their happy life changes on the day of their father's birthday when a police officer arrives to inform them that Christopher had died in a car accident, 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. Confused since having been told they had no living relatives, Corrine explains that she is estranged from her parents and changed her last name to conceal her true identity, which is Foxworth.

The family takes the train to Virginia where they meet Corrine's grim and cold-hearted mother, Olivia, who takes them to a small room in the attic. Corrine tells her children that her father disowned her for something she did when she was 18 and plans to introduce them to him once she wins back his love. The next day, the children are given a list of rules and are told to remain in the attic by Olivia. When Corrine returns, she has been horse-whipped at her father's command as punishment for her marriage to Christopher. Corrine confesses that Christopher was actually her half-uncle - he was her father's younger half-brother whom her parents took in after his mother died. After meeting, they had fallen in love, but were disinherited after eloping. Corrine promises the children she will convince her father to forgive her, introduce them to him, and they will all live wealthy, happy lives.

At first visiting as often as she can, Corrine visits become less frequent as she begins to enjoy her newfound wealthy life and starts a relationship with her father's attorney, Bart Winslow. Corrine later informs them that while her father has forgiven her, she can't let them meet him due to claiming she didn't have any children with their father, meaning they will have to remain in the attic until he dies. At Christmas, Corrine lavishes expensive gifts on the children in compensation for hiding them. After learning of a big Christmas part, Cathy and Chris beg to attend and Corrine gives in by hiding them in a space above the staircase with a view to the party. They see their grandfather, Malcolm, for the first time and witness their mother in an intimate encounter with Bart. Chris goes off to explore the rest of the mansion and finds his mother's Swan Room. Corrine awakens Cathy, demanding to know where her brother is. When Chris appears, she slaps him for running off and threatens to have them whipped, but apologizes the next day and offers to leave Foxworth Hall with them if they wish to, but they agree to stay.

A year passes and Corrine's visits with her children become almost non-existent. Due to a lack of fresh air and sunshine, the twins have stopped growing while Cathy and Chris enter puberty. Corrine explains the physical changes of becoming young adults to them and gives Cathy her first bra. As she tries it on, Chris walks in on her. 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 on mostly water. Olivia appears to relent and leaves them a basket of food. However, the next morning, Cathy awakens to find tar in her hair. 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 with her children in months, forcing Cathy and Chris to become parents to the twins. They conclude that their mother has abandoned them and begin contemplating an escape. When Corrine does return, she happily announces she has married Bart and was away on her honeymoon in Europe, leaving Cathy furious. Olivia soon brings them sugar-powdered doughnuts, which she says are from their mother. After demanding to be called by his name rather than "boy" Olivia beats Chris with a belt. Cathy tends to his wounds and admits her fear of losing him. Assuring her nothing will happen to him, they share a 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 key in soap and carves a wooden copy.

During the following nights, Cathy and Chris steal money from their mother's room to afford a train. During one of these nights, Cathy finds Bart asleep and kisses him. Chris later overhears his mother and Bart talking, who mentions a dream of a young, blond-haired girl coming into his room and kissing him. Realizing that she had kissed their stepfather, Chris angrily confronts Cathy, who assures him that the kiss meant nothing and had only been done out of curiosity. She re-assures Chris and kisses him, leading them to have sex. Cathy suggests they move to Florida and he tells her that he loves her and can never love anyone else. Carrie then comes in to tell them that Cory is sick. Olivia and Corrine arrive and when hesitating to help him, Cathy demands her mother take Cory to a hospital, threatening revenge if she doesn't. The next day, Corrine tells them Cory had pneumonia and has died.

Devastated by the loss and afraid for their own lives, Cathy and Chris decide to take all the money they have collected and grab as much jewelry they can to finally escape. During the search for valuables, they discover that Corrine and Bart have left Foxworth Hall, leaving behind Cathy's promise ring and a photo of their father. Chris hides in the study to avoid being caught by the butler, John Amos, and a maid. Overhearing their conversation, Chris learns that Olivia has been leaving poison to kill "the mice" in the attic and that their grandfather had died seven months ago. He is soon caught by Olivia and flees from the room before meeting back up with Cathy, who shows him how Cory's pet mouse has died after eating a piece of his doughnut, revealing that the poison was in their food. Olivia then comes to take their key, but Chris is too sick to fight back and Cathy is unable to bring herself to strike the old woman. Olivia offers to show them mercy if they give her the key, but Chris restrains her long enough for Cathy and Carrie to escape. Olivia chases after them, but panics when Chris shuts the door and turns the lights off. Cathy says it is her punishment for what she did to them and God does see everything. Olivia tells them that their mother was the one who poisoned them, not her, but they ignore her and climb out the window before fleeing on foot.

During their escape, they run into Amos, who mistakes them for intruders, but Cathy reveals 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 to get revenge on their mother one day for making them suffer the pain and shame she dealt out to them.

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
• Bruce Dylan as Bart Winslow
• Chad Willett as Christopher Dallanganger, Sr.
• Beau Daniels as Malcolm Foxworth
• Andrew Kavadas as John Amos

Reception

Critical reception

Flowers in the Attic received mixed reviews. However, Ellen Burstyn's performance received praise from critics. Review aggregator site, Metacritic, has given the series a "mixed or average" score of 49 out of 100, based on 22 critics. On another review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 47% rating with an average rating of 5.4 out of 10, based on 19 reviews.

For her performance, Burstyn was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award and Primetime Emmy Award.

Ratings

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 release

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.

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 on the Dollanganger series, If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday, both set to premiere in 2015.

External links

• Flowers in the Attic at IMDb