Mildred Pierce (Book [1941], Television Series [2011])

Mildred Pierce, by James M. Cain (novel)

New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1989

Originally published in 1941

List of main characters:

Mildred Pierce

Bert Pierce

Veda Pierce

Moire (Ray) Pierce

Wally Burgan

Lucy Gessler

Ida Corwin

Monty Beragon

Mildred Pierce (television series)

March 27, April 3, April 10, 2011, broadcast dates

Directed by Todd Haynes

Screenplay by Todd Haynes, Jon Raymond

Based on the novel Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain

Theme music by Carter Burwell

Edited by Affonso Gonçalves

Cinematography Edward Lachman

Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce

Brían F. O’Byrne as Bert Pierce

Melissa Leo as Lucy Gessler

Evan Rachel Wood as Veda Pierce (Dilber Yunus and Sumi Jo as her singing voice)

Morgan Turner as the young Veda Pierce

Quinn McColgan as Ray Pierce

Guy Pearce as Monty Beragon

James LeGros as Wally Burgan

Mare Winningham as Ida Corwin

Hope Davis as Mrs. Forrester

Broadcast by HBO

 Mildred Pierce might not qualify as noir literature for many readers. There’s no murder, not much physical violence; however, there is plenty of betrayal and emotional violence. I am not very fond of categories, and I can see both sides for this particular novel by James M. Cain.

The novel opens in the spring of 1931, almost two years after the start of the Great Depression. The Pierce family—Mildred, her husband Bert, and their daughters Veda and Ray—are struggling to get by. The first chapter gets right down to business: Mildred is fed up with Bert’s infidelity and his unemployment, and she tosses him out of the house. She is now responsible for herself and her daughters. Mildred has too much pride to take a waitressing or a housekeeping position, but given her circumstances, she finally decides to start waitressing. Her pride and Veda’s disdain for menial work, even her mother’s menial work, forces her to take on a restaurant business so that she can hold her head up and keep Veda’s affection. Although this financial struggle starts the novel and the thread about this part of the story proceeds rather quickly, Cain sets up the battle of wills between mother and daughter at a much slower pace.

(This blog post about Mildred Pierce, both the novel and the television series, contains spoilers.)

I don’t think there is much doubt that the 1945 film Mildred Pierce starring Joan Crawford is a noir (click here for my blog post). But what about the novel and the television series is noir? Perhaps the three strongest points are Monty as an homme fatale; the emotional betrayals perpetrated by Veda, Mildred, and Monty; and fate.

Monty, in league with Veda, certainly plays a role in Mildred’s undoing. She hasn’t had such a relationship before and the attraction between her and Monty almost frightens her:

 “. . . For one thing, she [Mildred] had discovered that a large part of his [Monty’s] appeal for her was physical, and this she found disturbing. So far, her sex experiences had been limited, and of a routine, tepid sort, even in the early days with Bert [Pierce]. This hot, wanton excitement that Monty aroused in her seemed somehow shameful; also, she was afraid it might really take possession of her, and interfere with her work, which was becoming her life. For in spite of mishaps, blunders, and catastrophes that sometimes reduced her to bitter tears. The little restaurant continued to prosper. . . .” (page 151)

But at least she recognizes that something powerful is going on. With Veda, it almost seems that it is her choice—or maybe her fate—to miss the ominous signs that Veda barely bothers to hide from her mother.

A telling description, during Veda’s Hollywood Bowl performance, of how Mildred sees her daughter Veda occurs near the end of the novel.

. . . There came a tap on her shoulder, and Mr. Pierce [Bert’s father, Mildred’s father–in-law] was handing her a pair of opera glasses. Eagerly she took them, adjusted them, leveled them at Veda. But after a few moments she put them down. Up close, she could see the wan, stagey look that Veda turned on the audience, and the sharp, cold look that she constantly shot as Mr. Treviso [Veda’s teacher, and conductor for the evening], particularly when there was a break, and she was waiting to come in. It shattered illusion for Mildred. She preferred to remain at a distance, to enjoy this child as she seemed, rather than as she was. (page 277)

In other words, Mildred has learned nothing from her experience interacting with her daughter or from other people who see Veda more clearly and objectively. She’s not willing to examine her relationship with Veda very closely or in detail (through opera glasses, so to speak) because the reality is unsettling, as well it should be. Treviso, Veda’s music tutor, holds no illusions about Veda and tells Mildred that Veda is indeed very talented, but on a personal level she is nothing more than a poisonous snake. Mildred ignores his warnings.

Veda’s emotional violence has been ongoing; her capacity to hurt her mother is revealed at its most brutal when Mildred discovers that her daughter is sleeping with her second husband and Veda’s stepfather, Monty.

 “. . . Yet this athlete [Veda Pierce] crumpled like a jellyfish before a panting, dumpy little thing in a black dress [Mildred Pierce, Veda’s mother], a hat over one ear, and a string of beads that broke and went bouncing all over the room. Somewhere, as if from a distance, Mildred could hear Monty, yelling at her, and feel him, dragging at her to pull her away. She could feel Veda scratching at her eyes, at her face, and taste blood trickling into her mouth. Nothing stopped her. She clutched for the throat of the naked girl beneath her, and squeezed hard. She wrenched the other hand free of Monty, and clutched with that too, and squeezed with both hands. She could see Veda’s face getting red, getting purple. She could see Veda’s tongue popping out, her slaty blue eyes losing expression. She squeezed harder.” (pages 291–292 )

Mildred loses control and attacks Veda—but not Monty. Could Mildred be changing finally, after such an egregious betrayal? Even at this late point in the novel, readers are kept guessing, and that’s a plus.

I read Mildred Pierce because of the 1945 movie starring Joan Crawford (which I saw first and more than once) and the 2011 HBO miniseries starring Kate Winslet. I saw both before I read the novel, and while reading it, I found myself picturing the HBO series. It’s not because I prefer the HBO series to the 1945 film version. But the HBO series follows the novel so closely that it was easy to picture the actors and “hear” the dialogue as spoken in the more recent adaptation. Before I saw the television series, I didn’t believe that Kate Winslet, as much as I admire her acting, would be able to match the intensity of Joan Crawford’s performance. Maybe this belief became a self-fulfilling prophecy because my opinion didn’t change after I saw the series.

I do prefer the 1945 film version of Mildred Pierce. It doesn’t follow the novel all that closely. It opens with a murder, which is not part of the novel at all. But the rewrite adds to the film’s edge and gives the subsequent plot more suspense. Joan Crawford gives Mildred more backbone, in spite of her need for her daughter Veda’s affection. I also prefer Cain’s novel to the HBO adaptation, which took several hours to tell the story.

You might be thinking by now that I didn’t enjoy the HBO version of Mildred Pierce, and nothing could be further from the truth. If I didn’t have the 1945 film version and Cain’s novel to compare it to, I would be writing even more enthusiastically about it. I especially like the character of Bert Pierce in the television series, which I think is one of the features of the television adaptation that is an improvement over the 1945 film.

I suppose, however, that comparisons between the film version and the television series, and especially between these adaptations and the novel, are unfair. All I know is that I can recommend all three, and all three still have the ability to shock after more than seventy years.