Mildred Pierce
Tags: depressing

Plot synopsis:
Mildred Pierce (Kate Winslet) is a housewife in Glendale, California in 1931. She and husband Bert (Brian F. OByrne) have two young daughters, Veda (Morgan Turner) and Moire, or "Ray" (Quinn McColgan). Bert had been a fairly successful home developer, but is now unemployed due to the Great Depression. Mildred makes extra money by selling baked goods to neighbors, including her friend Lucy (Melissa Leo), who praise her culinary skills. Her relationship with Bert ends in separation after it is revealed that he had been unfaithful, but Mildred does not tell the children the details of their father's absence.With the economy suffering, Mildred begins a harrowing job hunt. She visits an employment agency but finds that, like many female applicants, her skills as a homemaker and her typing ability will not land her any work. She does get referred to a wealthy woman (Hope Davis) who is engaged to a prominent film director and is looking for a housekeeper. Mildred attends the interview, but is put off by the woman's blatantly entitled attitude and declines the job. Stopping at a café for lunch, Mildred witnesses a public scuffle when one of the waitresses is caught stealing tips from her colleague's station. The owner of the restaurant (Mark Margolis) fires the two arguing waitresses for fighting in front of the customers, and Mildred timidly goes to the kitchen to inquire about a job opening. While the staff is still flustered, they agree that they need an extra waitress and decide to give Mildred a chance. While at first too nervous to be an efficient server, Mildred learns from a seasoned waitress, Ida (Mare Winningham), who teaches her crucial tricks and details of the job. Mildred soon flourishes and becomes a significant asset to the restaurant by contributing her own pies to the menu, which bring in extra money and raves from the customers. Mildred is relieved to be bringing home a paycheck, but is terrified that her daughters will be ashamed of her if they find out her occupation.Mildred's eldest daughter, 11-year-old Veda, is incredibly proper and ambitious and strives to speak and act in an almost obnoxiously mature manner. Despite her own middle-class upbringing, she is disgusted by people and lifestyles that she perceives to be "common," and Mildred harbors a fear of Veda's harsh judgment. The younger daughter, 8-year-old Ray, is a typical happy and lively child who adores her family. Though things are strained between Mildred and Bert, they get along for the sake of the children. Mildred enters a brief affair with Bert's friend and associate Wally Bergan (James LeGros), and shares with him her tentative idea of starting her own chicken restaurant. Wally says she should run with it, if she could ultimately prove that the business would be profitable.Veda has suspicions about Mildred's occupation, and discovers the waitress uniform while snooping in her mother's room. She indirectly confronts Mildred by ordering their maid, Letty (Marin Ireland), to wear the uniform, telling Mildred she assumed it was intended for the maid. Mildred has no choice but to confess, and Veda shamelessly insults her. The argument heats up, and Mildred slaps and spanks her daughter. She then reveals her restaurant plan and makes the excuse that she had only taken the waitress job to learn the trade from the bottom up. Veda seemingly apologizes. Mildred's intense yet fearful relationship with Veda becomes clear. Though Mildred constantly endures Veda's emotional abuse and lies, she desperately scrambles to give the girl everything she wants for fear of losing her love.Mildred eventually locks down a piece of real estate for her restaurant, and when things are nearly up and running, she happily embarks on her last day as a humble waitress. At work, and in an upbeat mood, she converses with a dashing customer, Monty Beragon (Guy Pierce), a polo player with a fruit business and a casual, high-end lifestyle. He is charmed by Mildred's wit, and invites her to go to the beach with him that very day. With her daughters on vacation with Bert, Mildred indulges her impulse and goes on an outing with Monty that ends in intimacy. When he drops her off at home, Mildred is met by a frantic neighbor who reports that when Bert and the girls returned from vacation, Ray had become seriously ill and was taken to the hospital when they found that Mildred was not at home. Mildred rushes to the hospital and is relieved that the doctors had stabilized Ray for the moment, but is devastated when Ray's condition suddenly plummets and the doctors are unable to save her. Bert and Mildred mourn the loss of their little girl. To combat her grief, Mildred puts every ounce of her energy and focus into developing her restaurant. On opening night, a surprisingly large crowd shows up, including Bert, Veda, Ida, and Monty. The service is quickly stretched to the limit, and Ida takes over the kitchen and gets things running smoothly again. The night winds down, and Monty bonds with Veda before seducing Mildred again at her home.Taking Wally's advice, Mildred divorces Bert to improve her financial standing for her business. As Mildred's relationship with Monty progresses, he becomes more and more dependent on her income. His fruit business goes belly-up, and he begins to refer to himself as Mildred's "paid gigolo." Mildred takes offense to his crude remarks, but is attached to the sexual relationship. Meanwhile, Mildred is putting extensive time and money into music lessons and equipment for Veda, who is a budding concert pianist. Now fourteen, Veda becomes more and more spoiled, arrogant and manipulative. She becomes strangely close with Monty, and thinks nothing of being outright insulting to her mother. Mildred still holds a desperate attachment to her daughter and believes there is good in her, despite the barbs she endures from Veda's behavior. Fed up, she leaves Monty and puts even more energy into making Veda happy, as well as opening new restaurants with the help of Ida, Lucy and Wally.A few years later, 17-year-old Veda (now Evan Rachel Wood) is being trained as a professional opera singer. Mildred's business takes a sudden financial blow, and her accountants point out that it is Veda's spending that is causing the damage. Mildred frantically defends her daughter, and continues to furnish Veda's lifestyle despite the expense. Veda and Mildred have a turbulent and bipolar relationship. Veda is living at home, but is constantly out with her reckless wealthy friends whom she only keeps for their connections to prominent media figures. A wealthy woman, Mrs. Forrester, visits Mildred, who is shocked to see that it is the same woman who had interviewed her for the housekeeping job years ago. Mrs. Forrester does not recognize Mildred from the incident, but delivers the news that her son, Sammy, had been seeing Veda exclusively (mainly because Mr. Forrester is a well-known film director and Veda had expressed an interest in acting) and that Veda was firmly and dramatically insisting that they marry. Mildred is taken aback, and confronts Veda later that night. Veda insinuates that she is pregnant, but later reveals that she had lied in order to claim money from the Forrester's attorneys that would allow her to leave Glendale and her mother forever. She nastily expresses her loathing for Mildred's "pie wagons" and "everything that smells of grease." Enraged, Mildred throws her out of the house, but immediately regrets it.Veda moves into an apartment and continues her singing instruction, soon becoming a celebrated soprano. Despite the busy schedule her restaurants demand, Mildred's main focus is to win Veda's love. Knowing Veda's fondness for Monty, Mildred reunites with him and buys his family estate to construct a more extravagant lifestyle that Veda might approve of. Mildred and Monty marry, though their happiness is short-lived. Mildred's business begins to suffer on account of her expensive living, and she is in danger of losing control of her restaurant franchise. She confesses to Bert that she had been embezzling money from the restaurants to lure Veda back home. To Mildred's delight, Veda finally comes home. She and Mildred share a tearful reunion, with Veda apologizing profusely for her previous behavior. Veda's singing talent had bought her fame and business offers, and she is preparing for a widely-advertised one-woman opera concert. Veda, Monty, and Mildred bond over the preparation for the show, designing Veda's elaborate costume and inviting friends and family to attend. On the night of the show, Mildred is paralyzed with emotion as she watches her daughter sing in front of a massive audience, ending with a song that she used to sing with Mildred as a little girl. Mildred takes the gesture as an olive branch from Veda and finally begins to have hope for the future.Still in debt, Mildred determines that she must borrow money from her now-wealthy daughter. She cannot find Veda in the house, and goes to Monty's room to ask if he had seen her. Monty refuses to open the door and behaves very nervously. Mildred forces the door open and sees Veda, stark naked, in Monty's bed. Veda sneers at her mother, gloating that she and Monty had planned to dupe Mildred all along. Mildred, blinded by fury, attacks Veda and nearly chokes her to unconsciousness. Veda claims that her vocal chords are damaged as a result, and she has lost her ability to sing. Her singing contract is nullified.Mildred hastily moves to Nevada in order to divorce Monty as quickly as possible. Still without the money to keep her restaurant chain, she leaves it to Ida, who had been a strong pillar of support over the years. She and Bert, who had re-bonded during the Veda debacle, remarry and move in together once more. They are taken aback when Veda confronts her parents, accompanied with reporters, to reconcile with Mildred in order to lessen the damage her relationship with Monty had done to her reputation. Mildred accepts the staged apology, but several months later Veda returns with the news that she is moving to New York City with Monty, and that her vocal chord injury was a ploy so she could be freed from her previous singing contract and obtain a better one. As Veda prepares to leave in a taxi, Mildred shouts at her to never come back. Bert calms her down, finally allowing Mildred to accept that Veda does not deserve her mother's support. Mildred and Bert proceed to drink, and prepare for the next chapter of their lives.

Review: I was already a Kate Winslet fan, but this performance has put her on a very short list of those who I have ever been so moved, so filled with respect and admiration.From the moment we first meet her skillfully making pies (old school like grandma) we see a woman who inspires respect.
We watch as Mildred works hard to keep her 2 daughters cared for while trying to keep herself from falling into understandable depression.I'll leave the rest for when the series finishes, but I have never seen better acting than in this series, and a large part of that is KW.
Ironically we learn from this that sometimes being too faithful to the novel has its drawbacks.Read on:This is a film about a middle class divorced , single mom raising her kids , trying to be successful and riding the waves of success but making the mistake of trying to woo her 'rotten' daughter that leads to her downfall.Here is Kate winslet as the heroine, Mildred Pierce.
It would actual be difficult to imagine Mildred Pierce as anyone other than Kate Winslet, if you both, read and watch the movie over the same course of time.
Although "Mildred Pierce" was originally a novel, the story is familiar to most people as a glossy 1945 film noir in which Joan Crawford suffers in furs as her ungrateful daughter (Ann Blyth) steals her boyfriend (Zachary Scott).
The supporting actors are the ones with personality texture: Melissa Leo as a good-natured neighbor and business partner, Mare Winningham as a tough but sweet co-worker (speaking with a "New Yawk"-style twang like one of those sassy blondes from 30's movies), Guy Pearce as the corrupt hedonistic boyfriend, Morgan Turner and Evan Rachel Wood as child and adult versions of Mildred's warped and snobby daughter Veda.
Although the performances of Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce and Evan Racel Wood were all top notch in this 2011 remake, I preferred the original 1945 film.
It tells the story about middle-class housewife Mildred Pierce who lives with her husband Bert and two adolescent daughters in Glendale, California during the Great depression, and who's life changes immensely when she and Bert breaks up and she is left on her own to raise and be the sole provider of her daughters Ray and Veda.
This rhythmic, atmospheric and melodramatic coming-of-age story about a competitive, and obsessive relationship between a loving mother and her eldest daughter which examines themes like class distinctions, family relations and love, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, colorful characters, the memorable acting performance by English actress Kate Winslet, the fierce acting performance by American actress Evan Rachel Wood as the protagonist's ambitious daughter Veda and the notable acting performance by Australian actor Guy Pearce as the wealthy playboy Monty Beragon.
The stars were definitely (and rightly) Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood as well as the young actress who played Veda Pierce as an 11-13 year old.
Being a big fan of the original Mildred Pierce, and excited to watch the way southern California of the 30's would be depicted, I was excited to see how the re-make would be turned into a series.From the very beginning, it fell flat.
Kate Winslet is a great actress, assuredly a more accomplished thespian than Crawford but the part fit Joan like a glove but by hewing so close to the novel this refocuses the drama in too many directions and loses the impact of any of them.
We are huge fans of Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel-Wood as artists as well as the brilliant programming of original shows HBO airs but this was just awful - way too long - dragged out episodes with nothing happening - waiting for something - ANYTHING exciting to happen.
This is an interesting story about an aberrant relationship between grass-widow Mildred, the enabler mother, and her daughter Veda, a young woman who is the archetypal snake in the grass.Great period details and relaxed pacing give an authentic feel to this potboiler, which hews a bit closer to its source material than the original flick with Joan Crawford.
Watch 'Mildred Pierce' with Kate Winslet in the title role, and Guy Pearce (oh brother!) as Monty Barrigan for just ten minutes, and you will be in 'dreamland' before you know it.While the story is still a good one, this version is long and dragged out.
I love Kate Winslet, but she does not fit the character of Mildred Pierce.
Add to this exceptional performances by Kate Winslet, Guy Pierce, Mellisa Leo and Evan Rachel Wood, and you end up with a truly amazing work.
As wonderful as Joan Crawford's performance in the original version was, this new adaptation takes James Cain's amazingly dark and deep story of depression era life to a new level that I think he would be proud to be part of.Hayne's sense of detail, imagery, and mood reflect a deep and powerful understanding of period film making that most directors could only hope to accomplish.
Thinking this is about Mildred Pierce is only half true - and the last two parts are mainly about her oldest daughter, payed by Even Rachel Wood.Guy Pearce is terrific.
Young Veda was very much off target too, as her acting was very close to high school play-ish.Guy Pearce was very good and very close to the original actor's part.
I for one never saw the 1945 classic original that won Joan Crawford an Oscar, but just recently viewed this remake in a long drawn out form on HBO and I must say brilliant work from Todd Haynes.
It covers all the themes of pain, family struggle, and love, passion, heartbreak, success and most of all it's a classic mommy dearest struggle of power.Done over five parts the great Kate Winslet stars as Mildred a woman who's married living with two daughters in sunny California in the depression era, and from the start it gets more complex for Mildred when she leaves her husband over his affair, and she's forced to wait tables for a living.
As in the end it proves with Mildred one can start over and go back to their roots.Overall well done in depth mini-series that's emotional, uplifting and a good drama of struggle and determination.
Moreover, having just watched "Millenium" and concluded that the show shouldn't have been turn into movies, here, it's the contrary: those five hours should have been edited in a fine movie because the scenes drag a lot, all the more than they happen a lot of times in Mildred's house (it would be interesting to compare with the classic black and white release then).I'm really ambivalent with the story : if the goal was to make me cry in front of this courageous woman who had to work, well, i'm not that audience: she isn't poor: she has a luxurious and big house, a car, pays piano lesson to her daughter, so really, she isn't a self made woman.
I should start by saying, although I've never read the James M Cain novel, as a fan of classic golden era Hollywood films I love the original version of Mildred Pierce.That didn't stop me enjoying Todd Hayne's new miniseries.
It's just that somehow here it never seems to quite work on the subconscious level these stories need to succeed at if they are to satisfyingly tap into the great archetypal themes they are aiming to communicate with.So maybe Joan Crawford's version wins in the end, never the less HBO's mini-series is well worth a spin as a very superior soap opera told with cinematic flair..
I watched this series because I quite like Kate Winslet and I usually enjoy the work she does.
Kate Winslet is such a great actor but she had 'one face' the whole show which was 'look at me i'm a victim of a spoiled daughter i've created and love kissing her rear end and use me as a doormat'.
Add an excellent performance by Kate Winslet and overall good acting by the rest of the cast, and you are fully transported back in time.
Evan Rachel Wood plays her in the latter parts, and it's such a fitting casting choice that you might think they're the same person.I was a bit underwhelmed by Guy Pearce's role, expecting more screen- time from him.
Given the legendary performance of Joan Crawford in the movie version of James M Cain's powerhouse novel, this series rises or falls on the casting and performance of the main character.
It's around 5 hours long but the details are interesting to watch from the setting up of Mildred's first restaurant to her relationships with both Monty (Guy Pearce) and her civilized divorce from her first husband.
Kate Winslet as the title character Mildred is very good - you can understand her every word and feel all her emotions.
I've never heard about the story of Mildred Pierce, and my understanding and my review will therefore not be so thourough.All I've got to say is that I liked this series very much, and I am yet again impressed by HBO's good trend of mini series, all from Band of Brothers and The Pacific to this one.
I think it's a brilliant format that HBO masters well, and they make them thoroughly and detailed.Kate Winslet's act in this series was also very good.
The reviewer of one of the reviews here said she/he could feel the same emotions Mildrer (Winslet) was going through, and I certainly agree.Since I'm both of a barely 20 year old generation and from Europe, the story about Mildred Pierce is completely new to me, but I think this will boost people's awareness of the story, and of course the original book, including the fact that my generation gets a great visual peek into what it was like in USA in the 1930's..
I did appreciate that director Haynes stayed true to the book's original ending although it made me look a little foolish to my wife, to whom I'd confidently promised a big dramatic finish like I'd seen in the old movie.As you'd expect with this director, the period of 30's LA is reproduced beautifully both inside and outside and he gets good quality acting from the actors supporting Winslet.
I also liked the actor playing husband number one and three while Guy Pierce revels in the flashy role of Monty Berragan, the penniless dandy living on old glories and a fading charm.In conclusion then, despite the question mark in my mind over Winslet's casting, this was still a compulsive soap-opera come thriller helped by stylish direction, impressive production values and good ensemble acting..
I saw Mildred Pierce was remade, a great 1940s movie with the great Joan Crawford and finally having HBO in my cable service and seeing a repeat of this mini series airing, I was so excited to watch it and I was extremelydisappointed with this remake of one of the best movies ever made.
The story drawn out and part bring boring and thinking to fast forward through parts and some of the acting, namely the young Veda and Monty characters to be somewhat lacking in ability.VERY disappointed..
After watching this version of Mildred Pierce I can only conclude that no one does atmosphere like Mr Haynes.
Being a fan of Joan Crawford and a fan of the original "Mildred Pierce", I was immediately interested in watching this mini-series once I heard about it.
I also love Kate Winslet and I think she is a great actress so I thought for sure that I would love this series.
By the time the 5th episode started I had lost interest in the characters and really didn't care about the outcome.I don't know what the director had in mind, but there were far too may facial shots of Mildred Pierce with this sad and bewildered look on her face.
The original studio version with Joan Crawford was corny, but at least it was over in 2 hours.Don't waste your time on this one.I give it a 3 rating because the actors were so good, but nothing else worked..
It's 1930's L.A. Mildred Pierce (Kate Winslet) has been abandoned by her unemployed husband Bert leaving her with their young daughters Veda and Ray. She has been trying to make ends meet by selling her home-made pies.
Mildred doles on Veda but she turns more and more rotten.This is a five parts HBO mini-series based on the 1941 novel and most well-known for the 1945 film adaptation.
Mildred Pierce (Kate Winslet) throws out her cheating husband and is left on her own to bring up her two daughters--Ray (Quinn McColgan) and Veda (Morgan Turner and later Evan Rachel Wood).
In many ways I'd nod the hat to Ms. Blyth, because the movie itself is so immersing.Judging solely based on the performances of the original characters of the 1940's version, the luscious black and white cinematography, and Ms. Crawford, it would be easy to dismiss the 2011 version.However if you look at the 2011 version as a standalone piece of grownup film making and the viewer is indeed a grownup who appreciates subtleties, this is one of the best modern movies ever made for television.Many complain about its pace, they whine that this new version doesn't have a bang of an ending, they complain that Winslet is not a heroine, and how is it possible for Veda to become so great as a singer in such a short time.
Also, I'm not a film-noir fan, so I was excited to revisit a classic novel in a medium that would allow the true story (not the original movie which changed the novel) shine and also to see Kate Winslet as Mildred.
I know the story is supposed to be about the relationship with Veda, but it just plays out like a soap opera, rather than something that should be coming from HBO.I also felt the direction was sub-par.
The actors were there, and I believe could have excelled in their parts, but the awful and unbearably slow pace of the film simply overshadowed any possibility of success.And I'm sorry, but Veda could have attempted to murder her mother, and in this version, Mildred would have ended up apologizing.
I felt really betrayed that I had invested all these hours watching what was a really good story and great acting for it to come to this.
In this version, you don't care as much.Kate Winslet is quite okay as Mildred, but she doesn't dominate the way Joan Crawford did in the role.
The 5+ hour remake of the 1945 Warner Bros film classic, drags in all the wrong places, partly due to the cable giant's "bigger is better" miniseries mania and the miscasting of the central characters of Mildred Pierce, Veda (the elder), and Monty Beragon.
I have not seen the Joan Crawford neither have I read the book but I cannot believe the author intended to convey the impression that Mildred's daughter Veda was transformed almost overnight from a failed concert pianist into an accomplished soprano.This apparent absurdity must have bemused any aspiring classical singer looking in who knows only too well that there is no substitute for the long years of voice training.
First reason, the actors.I thought Kate Winslet was every bit as good as Joan Crawford in the 1945 movie.
Boy was I surprised to learn it was over 5 hours.But the whole story is so interesting and so well made that not only was the long running time not an issue, I almost found myself wanting it not to end.Kate Winslet is the star here, the success or failure rests squarely on her broad acting shoulders.
And in the end, when it ended with Mildred telling her daughter she never wanted to see her again, I felt just depressed.This movie did provide me with a few good things.
Also, several of the characters were combined or omitted.This version, starring Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, Melissa Leo, Mare Winningham, Brian O'Byrne, and Evan Rachel Ward sticks to the James Cain novel, with dialogue actually lifted from it.The five-part drama still tells the story of Mildred and her obsession with her class-conscious, cold, spoiled, brat daughter Veda and the destruction this obsession costs the hard-working Mildred.As is usual with HBO, the production values are fantastic, perfect in setting the atmosphere of the '40s and the mood of the story.
The top-notch acting adds to it, and while there may not have been enough story for the time allotted, it's still excellent, particularly if you have read the novel and/or seen the film.I can't imagine two actresses more different from one another than Kate Winslet and Joan Crawford, and the differences are highlighted here to interesting effect.
"Mildred Pierce" is a five hours splendid mini-series with remarkable performances by a fabulous cast lead by Kate Winslet(in her first role after her amazing Oscar performance in "The Reader")from a great director like Todd Haynes.I was totally absorbed from the beginning to the end of this quite long movie.I absolutely loved the accurate portrayal of the character of Mildred(Kate Winslet who is mesmerizing and afford a really demanding role),a strong woman that struggle in the Depression era to find a job after she divorced from her husband.But her most challenging,exhausting and ultimately lost fight is with her headstrong ,cruel(probably one of the most evil character I've ever seen in a while),spoiled and ungrateful daughter Veda(played by a stunning Evan Rachel Wood).Meanwhile she is drawn in a somewhat crushing relationship with Monty Beregon(Guy Pearce)a man who will be an unexpected surprise for Mildred.The pace of the movie is engaging although at times is a bit slow.But the director provides beautiful details that are needed for the explanation of the characters,the story and the historical period(faithfully portrayed).Haynes is able to make you feel every beat of his heroine and with suggestive use of the camera you are completely caught in her world.