Petals on the Wind (film)
| Petals on the Wind | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Genre |
Drama Romance Thriller |
| Based on |
Petals on the Wind by V. C. Andrews |
| Screenplay by | Kayla Alpert |
| Directed by | Karen Moncrieff |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Mario Grigorov |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Editor(s) | Mark Stevens |
| Cinematography | Anastas N. Michos |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
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| Distributor | Lifetime Pictures |
| Release | |
| Original network | Lifetime |
| Original release |
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| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Flowers in the Attic |
| Followed by | If There Be Thorns |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Petals on the Wind is a 2014 Lifetime movie sequel to the 2014 adaptation Flowers in the Attic, starring Heather Graham, Rose McIver, Wyatt Nash, Bailey Buntain and Ellen Burstyn. It is based on the novel of the same name by V. C. Andrews, the second novel on the Dollanganger series. It premiered on Lifetime on May 26, 2014. The network announced on the premiere of the movie the developing of the following books of the Dollanganger series, If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday, both set to air in 2015.[1]
Plot
Ten years after escaping from Foxworth Hall, the surviving Dollanganger children - Cathy, Chris, and Carrie - attend the funeral of their adoptive father, Paul Sheffield, who provided them a good home and the means to achieve their dreams after having nowhere to go. Still traumatized by their grandmother's abuse and their mother's betrayal, which led to the death of Carrie's twin, Cory, Cathy can't understand how a mother could do such a thing to her own children. Meanwhile, their grandmother, Olivia, is invalid due to having suffered a stroke and constantly shouts out to the servants that Corrine poisoned her children, but no one believes her. Corrine has avoided all contact with her children and begins to renovate Foxworth Hall so she can take full ownership of the mansion.
During the past decade, Cathy has become an aspiring ballet dancer, Chris is in medical school, and Carrie is enrolled in an elite high school, but is constantly bullied for her small size. Cathy meets Julian Marquet, a fellow dancer, and finds herself attracted to him. On their first date, he invites her to go to New York with him to try for a leading in Romeo and Juliet, which she accepts. Later that night, Cathy and Chris admit that they still have feelings for each other and give into their passion, making love. However, Cathy insists they must find others to love and live normal lives, comparing their relationship to that of their family. The conversation reveals that Cathy was pregnant with Chris' child, conceived from their first sexual encounter while they were imprisoned, but miscarried. Although Chris says he can never love anyone but her, Cathy leaves for New York with Julian the next day with hopes of starting a new and fresh life with him.
Chris soon meets Sarah Reeves, the daughter of his boss at the hospital where he works, and they begin a relationship. Cathy's relationship with Julian quickly deteriorates as he shows a dark and abusive side and, when she attempts to leave, threatening to kill her and Chris if she tries to walk out on him. He even drops her during ballet try-outs and injures her leg, ruining her chance of getting her desired role. She manages to sneak away to see Chris graduate from medical school, but denies anything is wrong when he sees her black eye. She later returns to Julian after he shows regret for having abused her and helps Cathy get the role of Juliet by putting glass in the original dancer's shoes. Carrie asks Cathy if she can stay with her and Julian to escape from the relentless bullying at school, and Cathy agrees. During the play, Chris catches Julian touching Carrie and a violent confrontation occurs, which ends with Julian storming off into his car and Cathy chasing after him. As he drives erratically, Cathy reveals she is pregnant with his child, which distracts him and they get into a car accident. The accident leaves Julian dead and Cathy injured, but alive.
Ten months later, after the birth of her son, Jory, Cathy opens her own ballet school. Carrie meets and falls in love with a local minister named Alex, who quickly proposes to her. However, Carrie is unsure about being a minister's wife due to her memories of how their grandmother called them evil, and Cathy tells her to forget the past and look towards the future. Carrie finds Corrine at a charity gathering and invites her to her wedding, but Corrine denies Carrie as her daughter. The next morning, Cathy and Chris find that Carrie consumed poison-laced doughnuts (the same technique that was used to kill her twin) and committed suicide. Enraged, Cathy vows to get revenge on their mother, despite Chris trying to talk her out of it. She hires her stepfather, Bart Winslow, as her attorney in disguise of reviving the Sheffield estate with the intent on seducing him. Bart is instantly attracted to her and they begin an affair. Pressured by his boss, Chris proposes to Sarah and she accepts. However, the day before the wedding, Chris admits to Cathy that he doesn't want to marry Sarah because he still loves her. Cathy tells him that, while she still loves him, she wants him to move on with his life. Despite this, the two end up sharing a passionate kiss, which Sarah accidentally walks in on. Horrified, she ends her engagement with Chris, who is fired from his job as rumors of the incestuous relationship spreads.
With nothing left to stay for, Chris asks Cathy to come start a new life with him in California, where no one will know them, along with her son Jory. However, Cathy reveals that she is pregnant with Bart's child and intends to finish what she started. Chris decides to go with her to finally confront their mother and they sneak into Foxworth Hall on the day of its Christmas party. After arriving, Cathy encounters her grandmother and confronts her about her religious hypocrisy and her unjustified abuse towards her and her siblings. Undeterred by her words, Olivia tells her that while she can leave the family, she will forever be "the devil's spawn". During the party, Cathy reveals her identity as Corrine's daughter and her mother's crimes to the stunned guests. Despite Corrine's denial about knowing Cathy, Bart is suspicious and Olivia refuses to defend her. Pressured by Olivia, Corrine finally admits to everything, but insists she never intended to kill Cory and put them in the attic because her father would have rejected her and left her out of his will. Cathy then publicly reveals her pregnancy caused by Bart, leaving everyone in further shock and her mother horrified.
After confronting Corrine, Bart demands for Cathy to explain why she seduced him to get back at his wife. She says that, while she cares about him, she has done this for reasons he could never understand. Corrine blames Olivia for making her put the children in the attic, and Olivia says the children are abominations and didn't deserve to be born. She gives Corrine a trunk of her old possession, and Corrine is saddened to find the skeleton remains of Cory. Chris walks in as Corrine has a mental breakdown; she mistakes Chris for his father and pleads with him to hide Cory's body and run away. In her madness, she sets the bed and her mother on fire. Bart rushes in to save Olivia, but they both die in the fire. After they escape the mansion, Cathy and Chris watch Foxworth Hall burn to the ground.
Six years later, Cathy and Chris are now married and happily living in California with Jory and Bart Jr., under the surname Dollanganger. Corrine is deemed incompetent to stand trial for her crimes and is living in a mental hospital, where she constantly shouts out for her children.
Cast
- Heather Graham as Corrine Winslow
- Ellen Burstyn as Olivia
- Rose McIver as Cathy Dollanganger
- Wyatt Nash as Christopher "Chris" Dollanganger, Jr.
- Bailey De Young as Carrie Dollanganger
- Ellia English as Henny
- Nick Searchy as Dr. Reeves
- Whitney Hoy as Sarah Reeves
- Dylan Bruce as Bart Winslow
- Will Kemp as Julian Marquet
- Helen Nasilski as Marisha Marquet
- George Korov as Ravil Isyanov
- Stephanie Kim as Yolanda
- Natasha Kalimada as Ballerina
- Andrew Pirozzi as Danseur
- Angela Sprinkle as Ballet Mother
- Ross Philips as Alex
- Skyler Vallo as Lacey
- Megan Easton as Ashley
- Molly Hagen as Miss Calhoun
- Johnny Sneed as Contractor
- Talitha Bateman as Emma
Reception
In its original televised airing, Petals on the Wind was watched by 3.42 million viewers, and had a rating of 1.2 in the 18-49 age demographic, down 37 percent from the 1.9 earned by Flowers .
Sequels
On the premiere of Petals on the Wind, 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.[1]
References
- 1 2 West, Kelly (May 27, 2014). "Petals on the Wind Sequels If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday Are Coming to Lifetime" (Press release). Television Blend. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
External links
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