Wildflowers is a 1999 drama film directed by Melissa Painter and starring Clea DuVall, Daryl Hannah, Tomas Arana and Eric Roberts. It features former United States Poet Laureate Robert Hass reading some of his own poetry. Filmed in San Francisco and Marin County, California, it was given a limited theatrical release and received a mixed reception from critics.

Premise

Clea DuVall stars as Cally, a 17-year-old who has been raised by her father, not knowing her mother. When Cally meets a mysterious woman called Sabine, she becomes obsessed with her.

Cast

Distribution

Wildflowers premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 1, 2000. In the US it grossed $5,365.

Reception

At the 2000 SXSW Film Festival, Melissa Painter won the SXSW Competition Award for best Narrative Feature. Review website Rotten Tomatoes gave Wildflowers a rating of 57% based on seven reviews. Metacritic gave it a "generally negative" rating of 28% based on seven reviews. In a review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott called the film dreamy and impressionistic, but ultimately empty. He praised Clea DuVall for her "intuitive grasp of emotion". Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Barry Johnson called the film poignant. He praised Painter for her "lyrical, intimate direction" and DuVall for her "impressive, nuanced performance". Christopher Null called the film bizarre and incomprehensible, "utterly hopeless as cinema".