How many parts to mildred pierce

Hope Davis Mrs. Forrester as Mrs. Miriam Shor Anna as Anna. Margaret Hall Mrs. Floyd as Mrs. More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit. Glendale, California, Mildred Pierce, a young mother with a talent for baking, is left a "grass widow" after throwing her husband, Bert, out of the house. Forced to hunt for work to support herself and her two young daughters, year-old Veda and seven-year-old Ray, Mildred visits an employment agency, only to encounter job opportunities she feels are beneath her.

Amidst her job search, she receives dating advice from her friend and neighbor, Lucy Gessler, and begins an unexpected affair with an ex-business partner of her husband's, Wally Burgan. When Mildred receives a call from the agency regarding an opening as a housekeeper to a wealthy socialite, she reluctantly agrees to meet with her.

Did you know Edit. Trivia Director and screenwriter Todd Haynes decided that every scene should be from Mildred's perspective, and so required Kate Winslet to be in every single scene of the five hour miniseries.

Winslet has publicly stated that this was her hardest shoot around 18 weeks on set since Titanic User reviews 92 Review. Top review. Faithful to the novel. 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 film adaptation, have no fear: the 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. HotToastyRag Jun 5, Details Edit.

Cain saw things bluntly—and director Michael Curtiz never wasted time in the earlier film. And yet, Mildred never gets the basics about people: She never sees that her lover, Monty, is a creep, or that her daughter, Veda, is a snake. In the original movie, Joan Crawford—never exactly ordinary—was brilliant at being over-emotional, desperate, and her own wrong-headed drama queen so Veda had competition.

By contrast, Winslet is too placid, not fierce enough. She eats pies, where Crawford fed on raw flesh. There is one substantial way in which the mini-series exceeds the novel, and it comes as a surprise. Haynes has gone to town in enlarging these scenes. So the sexy stuff seems like window dressing for a series so overdrawn in time it may be afraid of losing viewers. The real coup here is Veda. The child Veda is Morgan Turner, and she is ingeniously hateful.

Evan Rachel Wood takes over the adult role and has to mime her way through a good deal of coloratura singing, as well as go pristinely naked in one scene that does come from the book. The mini-series dwindles toward its close. Cain muffed his own ending, and the original film tries to tidy that up but settles for being downbeat and unconvincing—one minute Mildred nearly kills Veda, and then the whole fight seems forgotten.

In fact, Haynes tried this a few years ago with Far from Heaven , an updating of Douglas Sirk pictures from the s. Our movies once were fast, sensational, and reckless.