Mildred Pierce: the unrequited love of a mother for her daughter

Mildred Pierce is one of the worthwhile HBO miniseries and they are not on the cover of their catalog. The miniseries stars Kate Winslet. It is a five-part drama that is unflinchingly faithful to James M. Cain’s 1941 novel. A very different miniseries from the 1945 film that took blatant liberties with plot, characters and settings. Still, “Mildred Pierce” gave its star, Joan Crawford, an Oscar.

This miniseries has the luxury of time unlike the movie. It tells you a lot more about the day-to-day nature of Mildred Pierce’s life. We get a clearer view of the context of the melodramatic events, thus moving away from the nightmare and the not to go towards something more daytime, at least in the first chapters.

The plot, which begins with Mildred making cakes for her daughters, conveys serenity before moving on to pain and horror. The miniseries manages to create empathy towards a mother, posing a transcendent question along the way: Does evil exist in some people?

Mildred Pierce: a miniseries that is almost a collector’s item

This version of Mildred Pierce hands the lead role to Kate Winslet, who does wonders with it. It is directed by Todd Haynes, who wrote the screenplay adaptation with Jon Raymond. Both put almost all the weight of the drama on the shoulders of their protagonist. The period setting is startlingly real, from the magazines, the wallpaper, the food on the plates and the slightly muted photography.

The story gives new expression to an ancient primal fear: a mother’s fear of being supplanted, destroyed or disowned by a daughter. Mildred’s tortured relationship with her spoiled daughter, Veda, is a twist on other classics.

The disturbance of a mother when she sees that her child is not as she imagined is explained in films such as The bad seed, We need to talk about Kevin or, the most recent, Crimes of family.

A mother struggling to get ahead

Mildred Pierce is a housewife in Glendale, California, whose life is turned upside down during the Great Depression. Her husband, a failed real estate agent, leaves with another woman and leaves Mildred without income.she only has the money she makes baking cakes for the neighbors.

Brian O’Byrne plays her first husband, Bert, who cheats on her. Guy Pearce plays Monty, the rich, lazy scoundrel who seduces Mildred and fuels her independence. Melissa Leo is Lucy’s neighbor and confidant, and James LeGros is her business advisor (and sometimes lover) as well.

Almost all scenes and dialogue are taken from the book, including the pretentious airs of Veda, who as a child is played by Morgan Turner. Compared to younger sister Ray (Quinn McColgan), Veda is a girl who poisons the atmosphere of the Pierce house. Despite living in a middle-class neighborhood, Veda, who plays the piano, projects herself at a much higher level on the social scale.

What we witness throughout the chapters is an admirable story of Mildred, working with Wally’s support, opening her own restaurant, succeeding in a man’s world. Meanwhile, Veda remains something of a child prodigy at the piano and Mildred religiously pays for her lessons with the best teachers.

Finding Mildred’s faults in her daughter

The fourth part of the story moves forward four years. We see that circumstances have greatly improved for Mildred. This is where we are introduced to the adult version of Veda, played by Evan Rachel Wood. She is less hostile toward her mother, until a well-respected music teacher gives Veda the bad news: she is not the talented pianist that everyone (especially Mildred) imagined.

Veda is immersed in anger and some of her manipulations begin to be discovered. So, we begin to wonder where Mildred could have gone wrong. Unconsciously, most viewers assume that her evilness must be associated with some maternal failure.

Let’s remember how Mildred was inspired by her daughter’s impossible dreams to continue advancing in the world of work. We see Mildred searching for explanations, justifying her daughter’s impudence, narcissism, and emotional coldness.

There are people who do not deserve forgiveness and this includes one’s own daughters.

There are very few audiovisual productions that deal with topics as complex as mothers’ forgiveness of daughters after a disturbing event. After continued abuse. After a life of enduring and remaining silent: how far should a mother’s sacrifice go?

Mildred Pierce is the representation of infinite love. We are aware that a mother almost always forgives more, endures more and sustains until the end something that seems to dictate instinct and bond.

This series shows us that We have to stop demonizing mothers for the adult behaviors of their children. Sometimes people who do evil simply exist. They may be talented and even appreciated, which does not prevent them from being very unfair to their mother.

Mildred Pierce, like other mothers, has the right to rebuild her life. We, as a society, also have to start assuming it on screen and in our environment.

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