Mildred Pierce (2011)

Such a frustrating disappointment

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Boring

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I learned there was far more "Sex & Nudity" than the Parents Guide claimed. And that's about it.The ending left me with absolutely no lesson learned, nothing to think about, nothing more than a blank stare and blatant frustration.Mildred Pierce. Hardly a main character. Hardly a character at all. You'll find that being in every scene doesn't make you a character, simply a prop. She does not grow. She does not learn. She actively follows what she knows is bad for her. Willingly walks into the most stupid things, I can't even begin to tell you.. You begin to believe she enjoys being hurt. She pretends to be angry one scene, and then acts as if nothing happened the next, even apologizing or doing favors for the other person who is clearly garbage and has admitted to ruining an important part of her life. Clearly never picked up a book on parenting, but then again those books don't lecture you on sociopaths.. However, you would think after years of dealing with that monster, she would have some kind of idea that said monster was.. as I said.. a monster, right? Not keep trying to "make it up to her" as if her daugher were an angel? I acknowledge some mothers can be naive when it comes to their children, but not like this. This does not make for an interesting character. Only a flat, detestable, and insufferable doormat tripping you into a most unsatisfting ending. Only until the very last scene does Mildred LOOK like maybe finally she's got the hang of it. Maybe she SHOULD let her daughter go. Want to see this phoenix rise at last? Too bad, the series is over.

I had high hopes for this mini series. After all it was an HBO production with a great cast. If only the writing was as such. The first 2 episodes were actually good enough (if not a little slow) to make me want to watch the rest. The last 3 episodes are a waste of time. The characters were never really developed. This young Veda was not the heinous spoiled brat that we had come to expect and understand in the Joan Crawford version. We never see Kate Winslet spoil young Veda or see how truly spoiled and ungrateful Veda was. Veda as a young adult went on some tirades and talked in circles & at times I was wondering what she was screaming about. She never really acted ashamed of her mother or her station in life as in the original version. Nor did she ever act like she hated her mother (no more than any other teenage girl), which was the driving force behind everything Mildred did. She did it for Veda's love and approval. This Veda has a career and fame. The ending just left me scratching my head.

Classic film fans know well the 1945 "Mildred Pierce" that won an Oscar for its star, Joan Crawford, providing her the comeback vehicle after being fired by MGM.Due to censorship restrictions, the film's story deviated somewhat from the book and, because Crawford was the star, the focus was kept on her, rather than enlarging the story to include Veda's career. 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. Crawford played Mildred as strong yet vulnerable; it's an overt performance, as were all of her performances. Her Mildred lets Veda and Monty get away with taking advantage of her. Winslet's Mildred is more insecure, and her strength is inner in that she's a survivor. Her Mildred doesn't seem to realize that Veda and Monty are taking her for a ride, and she comes off like a sap. A sympathetic sap, but a sap nonetheless. In a way, it makes her reaction (taken from the book) when she does realize it all the more powerful.Guy Pearce sounds like Zachary Scott in the film, and he's marvelous with just the right touch of sleaze. As Bert, Mildred's ex-husband, Brian O'Byrne, who was the star of Doubt on Broadway, is excellent. Both Evan Rachel Wood and Morgan Turner (Veda as a child) were wonderful showing Veda's detached, frosty personality. It was episode 3 before I realized that Ida was played the remarkable Mare Winningham, who brightens every film she does. Melissa Leo was wasted as Lucy, but good nonetheless. And a special nod to Leslie Lyles, who played the woman in the employment office - she was a perfect '40s character.The rest of this review is for people interested in the singing in the film.Since James Cain was an aspiring opera singer at one time and the son of an opera singer, opera sometimes enters into his stories, as it does here. Some of the operatic selections for Veda here fit the story, particularly Der Holle Rache (mother-daughter), the Bell Song (luring men with one's voice), and the Casta Diva from Norma. As in the book, she's a coloratura soprano, which her teacher tells Mildred is rare. Not really. The rarest voices in opera are the bass, the heldentenor, and true dramatic sopranos and true dramatic mezzos. I say "true" because often their roles are sung by spintos or even big lyrics.In the HBO film, Veda has an odd repertoire which includes La Mamma Morta, a lyric spinto or dramatic soprano aria -- chosen because it fits Veda's feelings and personality. For instance, the aria contains the line "Porto sventura a chi bene mi vuole! (Evil to those who love me well!) Truer words were never sung. In her concert at the Hollywood Bowl, she sings from Barber of Seville, today sung by a mezzo, but probably back then, a coloratura, and her radio aria is Je Suis Titania, also a coloratura aria.The vocal experts for the 2011 version did not want Veda singing Casta Diva since it is an incorrect choice for a) a young singer and b) her voice, but due to the fact that it's about a love triangle, it was chosen. Sumi Jo, whose recordings dubbed Turner, obviously had never sung Casta Diva, so a recording by Edita Guberova was used instead.Evan Rachel Wood was criticized for lacking correct expression and being too concerned with the lip-synching. I'd like to see the person who made that comment lip synch in Italian and German.

Mildred Pierce HBO 2011: This does have some spoilers. Kate Winslet delivers an honest performance full of anxiety, passion, heartbreak and guts. She plays a woman ahead of her time and without apology - a character full of contradictions who gets what she wants. While the miniseries is long, it shows the delicate ups and downs of a single mother effected by the Great Depression. She is forced to get a job as a waitress, fearing her daughter's disapproval. Her younger daughter dies early in the film. I cannot say that Mildred was as heartbroken by that as she is endlessly throughout the film for being a constant disappointment to her daughter Veda. Veda, played like a perfect tennis opponent by Evan Rachel Wood is a performance not to be missed. Mildred ends up owning a corporation, making the dough, thriving after a divorce and losing it all quickly just to please an ungrateful and blatantly spiteful daughter. Guy Pierce spices things up as Mildred's lover and plays his famous coward role (Count of Monte Cristo, the Kings Speech) like a charm. This one is a surprise though and you have to watch to get to that gaping reaction towards the end of the film. (like you had all throughout Memento) Like all HBO movies and shows, your cable bill every month is worth the superb casting. Also true to HBO, this miniseries is a great snap shot of how it was for how it is now and something we can learn from as we get through the last four years of tough economic times. Though Mildred is considered to be a heroine, what I praise most is the fact that I did not agree with her most of the time, rather I was curious to ride the stock market rises and slumps of her journey.