Mildred Pierce

This movie, recently presented in separate airings, was highly addictive. At first you think how can a movie based around a woman who makes great pies be that good but, IT REALLY WAS! My husband was hooked as soon as he saw the first episode I had recorded. It was PERFECTLY cast and all the performances were awesome! The setting based in the 1930's was absolutely gorgeous as was the music from back then. It made you wish you could go back in time, before technology, when things were so much simpler! The main theme of the story is universal to this day. This is one of those that if you are just channel surfing and you see it on, you just keep watching it over and over again. There is some nudity; but that aside, this is a a must see!

If you're one of the many people who read James M. Cain's novel Mildred Pierce and were utterly baffled by the changed made to the 1945 film adaptation, have no fear: the 2011 remake is so faithful to the book, it's as if someone's reading it aloud. Spread out in a 5-part miniseries, every detail of the long-suffering mother's journey is shown, from the dissolution of her marriage to her baby steps of adapting to the business world, to the sadness each of her daughters bring, and to her second chance at love with a young playboy. Kate Winslet takes the helm, and after her predecessor won a long-awaited Oscar for the original, Kate took quite a risk.

Since the two versions are so different, because of the story changes, Kate Winslet and Joan Crawford play two different women. Even if you love Joan Crawford, I think you'll still be able to appreciate Kate's interpretation and admit that she gives a heartfelt, exhausting performance. Kate modernizes the role, bringing her own brand of acting to Mildred's struggles, rather than trying to imitate Joan's stoic performance from the silver screen. She was rewarded, too, earning a Golden Globe for her work.

While in the original, the characters of Mildred's husband, friend, and suitor are stereotypes and rather boring, in the remake, Brian O'Byrne, Melissa Leo, and James Le Gros each bring realism into their respective roles. Mare Winningham joins the cast as a fellow waitress, and she's so realistic it's as if she's been slinging hash her entire life. Evan Rachel Wood takes on the villainous role of Mildred's oldest daughter, and while I am partial to Ann Blyth's original breakthrough performance, there are no flaws in Evan's. She does everything she's supposed to do and makes the audience hate her just as much as they're supposed to. Guy Pearce plays the handsome, spoiled playboy, and while he's always excellent in every role he takes on, if you watch this miniseries you might be too distracted to focus on his acting talents.

Since I've read the book, I thoroughly appreciated Todd Haynes' adaptation. This version is faithful from start to finish, and with several seasoned actors bringing the characters to life, it's very enjoyable to watch.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to sex scenes and nudity, as well as upsetting scenes involving children, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

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. She is forced to take a lowly waitress job in Hollywood. Veda finds out and berates her for embarrassing the family. Mildred tells her that she's preparing to open her own restaurant. Mildred is sleeping with Bert's former real-estate partner Wally Burgan who comes up with a place to start the restaurant. Due to tax reasons, the scheme requires Mildred to divorce Bert. She begins dating polo-playing playboy Monty Beragon (Guy Pearce). He does no work but he gets an income from a fading fruit import business. While secretly away with him, Ray gets sick and later dies. With her waitress friend Ida Corwin's help, her chicken-and-waffles restaurants become highly successful. 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. For me, this is a tragic mother and daughter story. The drama only gets great when Evan Rachel Wood arrives in part four. The younger actresses who play Veda in the first three parts do their very best. It's not their fault but the drama is limited to a few interesting scenes. This is a failure of adaptation. The first three parts are too plodding and fails to grab the drama by its throat. The saving grace is Kate Winslet and her never-ending humanity. Despite the slow start, she keeps the story going and there is value to a more expansive exposition than the 1945 film. It would have helped to concentrate this five parter into a two or three parter.

Lots of us are fans of the 1945 Crawford version, which was heavily condensed and changed from the novel. But Todd Haynes' miniseries IS the whole story as James M Cain described it, so those who felt the TV production is too long probably didn't like the book either. I was glad to see everything included----it made for a long watch, but an immensely satisfying one. Haynes has a real gift for recreating period feel; for realistic tones and colors, costumes, cars and sets, music, everything down to the dust on the furniture of the decaying Beragon mansion. You feel that you're actually watching people in the 1930's and '40's. The performances of the entire cast are wonderful---but, a caveat: a couple of scenes employ some brief and unnecessary nudity, so it's not for family hour. Other than that, this is one of the best book-to-film adaptations I've ever seen.

This is a good mini-series but has some flaws. But first I have to praise Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood for their acting and chemistry (even if their characters nearly hate each other). But the thing is that the story gets sooooo stretched to fill the 5 episodes that from episode 3 on may feel a bit boring and kinda repetitive.

I get that we need to see Mildred's ups and downs but it just feels the same until the fifth episode. I haven't read the book yet but I think it wasn't structured to be adapted into a miniseries. Maybe a movie (I mean the one with Joan Crawford) but not a 5-hour series. Some dialogues are full of wit and deepness but, some feel very dull. Todd Haynes directed flawlessly but the scripts he co-wrote needed to be fixed or shortened.

Kate Winslet just nails every scene she's in and gives a powerful performance mostly in the scenes with young and adult Veda. The relationship between these feels so real even if it's a toxic one, a VERY toxic one. Kate gives us a character that has been beaten by life but, tries to go on and give her daughters a better life even if the world is falling down.

The sets and costumes are just brilliant. Anything you would expect coming from a period production.

It is a beautiful story and production, feminism at its best, but the writing needs some fixing.