''Mildred Pierce'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

that aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

from March 27 to April 10, 2011, consisting of five episodes. Adapted from

James M. Cain James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter. He is widely regarded as a progenitor of the hardboiled school of American crime fiction. His novels ''The Postman Always Rings Twice ...

's 1941 novel of the same name, it was directed by Todd Haynes, and starred

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films, particularly period dramas, and for her portrayals of headstrong and complicated women, she has received numerous accolades, incl ...

in the title role, alongside Guy Pearce,

Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress and activist. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in ...

, and Melissa Leo.

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has consistently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. Burwell has also scored three of Todd Haynes's films, three of Spike Jonz ...

wrote the original score for the miniseries. It is the second adaptation of the novel, after the 1945 film noir produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

and starring

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...

Synopsis

''Mildred Pierce'' depicts an overprotective, self-sacrificing mother during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

who finds herself separated from her husband, opening a restaurant of her own and falling in love with a man, all the while trying to earn her spoiled, narcissistic elder daughter's love and respect.

Cast

as Mildred Pierce * Guy Pearce as Monty Beragon *

as Veda Pierce (

Dilber Yunus Dilber Yunus ( ug, دىلبەر يۇنۇس; zh, 迪里拜尔·尤努斯, Pinyin: Dílǐbàiěr Yóunǔsī; born October 2, 1958) is a Uyghur lyric soprano with coloratura technique. She has been called the "Philomela of China," in reference to th ...

and Sumi Jo as her singing "voice") * Miriam Shor as Anna * Melissa Leo as Lucy Gessler *

Morgan Turner Morgan Jeanette Turner (born April 29, 1999) is an American actor best known for playing Martha Kaply in the ''Jumanji'' franchise. Personal life Turner attended Methacton High School in Fairview Village, Pennsylvania. Turner is non-binary and p ...

as Young Veda Pierce * James LeGros as Wally Burgan *

Brían F. O'Byrne Brían Francis O'Byrne (born 16 May 1967) is an Irish actor who works and lives in the United States. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for his role in the miniseries ''Mildred Pierce'' (2011) and won a BAFTA TV Award for his role in ...

as Bert Pierce * Mare Winningham as Ida Corwin * Hope Davis as Mrs. Forrester *

Quinn McColgan Quinn McColgan (born January 31, 2002) is an American actress from Delaware, who has appeared in five feature films, four TV shows, one TV movie and a short. Her breakthrough role was in the TV mini-series ''Mildred Pierce'' as Ray Pierce (the ...

as Ray Pierce * Waltrudis Buck as Mrs. Temple

Filming

Parts of the miniseries were filmed in three

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

locations:

Peekskill Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...

, Point Lookout and Merrick.

Reception

Kate Winslet at the BAFTAs 2007 (cropped)

''Mildred Pierce'' received generally favorable reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 81% based on reviews from 58 critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the miniseries has a weighted average score of 69, based on 28 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". In a

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corporate underwriting, government funding and lis ...

podcast on the best theatrical films of 2011, critic

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

used the series as an example of television work that was on par with the year's best movies, calling it Haynes' best work to date.

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

called it a "quiet, heartbreaking masterpiece", while ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reviewer, Alessandra Stanley, commented that while the miniseries was "loyally, unwaveringly true to James M. Cain's 1941 novel", it did not "make the most of the mythic clash of mother, lover and ungrateful child", and was "not nearly as satisfying as the 1945 film noir". Novelist

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, reviewing ''Mildred Pierce'' for ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', praised the acting of Winslet, Pearce and Wood, and admired the show's attention to detail and structure, but complained that the five-hour adaptation was "too damn long". He finishes with, "Winslet’s Mildred is a genuine star turn. How Joan Crawford would have loathed her." The series was shown out of competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in 2011.http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/photos-e6frf9bo-1226126240982?page=25

Ratings

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{HBONetwork Shows 2010s American drama television miniseries 2011 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings Great Depression television series HBO original programming Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Television series set in the 1930s Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in New York (state) Television shows set in Glendale, California