Summary
A woman loves her daughter and would do anything to please her. She starts her own business and she eventually marries a man she doesn't love when her daughter wants a better life. Someone ends up being murdered, but who did it? Mildred Pierce is a classic murder mystery with a twist ending.
Thoughts on the movie
I liked the fact that this was a mystery. As I've mentioned in previous articles, I love mysteries. This one was a good one in my opinion. Even though I saw the twist of the murder coming in the beginning, I liked how the writers made it possible for the killer to be anyone. Other movies I've seen made it possible for me to figure out what was going to happen. It helps how I suspected almost everyone in the movie. LOL!
I enjoyed the acting in this movie. I thought that Joan Crawford did a good job as Mildred Pierce. I do however think that it wasn't believable that she turned into a weakling because of her daughter Veda. Veda didn't really look that threatening that Mildred couldn't handle her. Speaking of Veda, I thought she did a good job too. I have never seen any of Ann Blyth's work before, but I was really impressed by her acting. I thought the other actors and actresses did good jobs too.
Here are some questions I had about the movie
Did Burt (Mildred's first husband) have an affair
It's established that Mildred's husband was spending time with another woman. Mildred and Burt were having financial problems during their marriage. They fought over it. Burt tried to warn Mildred about the snooty way the kids (Veda and Kay) were acting. That made Mildred mad and she told him to go to his female friend. Mildred and Burt split up. It's never established whether or not Burt was having an affair. It seemed to me like they were still in love with each other even after they split up. He seemed like he was jealous of her moving on wit Monty (Mildred's new husband).
Why was Veda obsessed with money
Throughout the movie, Veda is obsessed with money. The rest of the family wasn't like that so why did she act like that? There was a point in the movie where she expected her mother to marry a man she didn't love in order to live the rich life. Did the writers want Veda to come off snobby or was she just a person who wanted a better life?
Everyone forgot about Kay
While Mildred was away with Monty, her daughter Kay got sick. When she came home, Burt told her that Kay was sick. Kay had pneumonia. Luckily Mildred was able to see Kay and say goodbye before she died.
Once Kay is gone, she is never mentioned again. There isn't even a funeral for Kay. I assumed that Mildred, as well as her family, would have mentioned her again. Kay's family seemed to really love her while she was alive so I was surprised that no one mentions her. I think that Mildred would have named the restaurant after Kay. It would have been a good way to keep her memory alive.
Why would Mildred put up with Veda
Veda is a horrible person in the movie. You can see early signs of this when she reacts to a dress Mildred bought for her. Veda complained to Kay about the dress not being stylish enough for her. Mildred overhears this and walks away. At the time Mildred bought the dress for her, she was going through financial problems. Despite that, she wanted to make Veda happy. Veda wasn't even grateful that Mildred went to the trouble of spending money on her.
Once Mildred and Burt broke up, she had to support her kids. Mildred ended up getting a waitressing job. Veda didn't like this. She seemed embarrassed that her mother was a waitress. She guilted Mildred into opening up a restaurant sooner than she wanted.
Fast forward a few years and Veda snuck off and got married. She didn't even have the decency to invite her mother to her wedding. Mildred had to just find out about it. When Veda's marriage didn't work out, she expected her mother to bail her out of it. Veda used a manipulation tactic to get out of the marriage and get money out of it. I won't spoil it for you. When Mildred found out about what Veda did to trick her husband, they got into a fight. Veda confessed that she wanted to get away from her and have a better life than the one she provided for her. Veda also had the gall to slap Mildred during their argument. Needless to say, Mildred kicked her out of the house.
Mildred ended up missing Veda and she wanted her to come back home. Veda gave her a hard time because she didn't want to live the life that Mildred was living. To get Veda to come back, Mildred married Monty. They dated briefly when she bought her restaurant from him. They broke up because he was a slacker and he was spending too much time with Veda. Anyway, Mildred wanted to buy the house that Monty was staying in and he let her. She also wanted Monty to marry her even though she didn't love him. Once Mildred got the house and the husband, Veda finally went home. Veda does another cruel thing to Mildred that I won't spoil. I will tell you that it is important to the murder mystery.
I think Mildred must have had a lot of patience to put up with Veda's horrible behavior. Her behavior reminds me of a character named Sarah Jane from the movie Imitation of Life. She treated her mother badly and she's ashamed of her mother's background. That is how Veda is too.
The twist ending
As I mentioned earlier, the movie has a pretty good twist ending. After Veda's birthday party was over, Monty was killed. The identity of the killer is revealed in a flashback at the end of the movie. All of the suspects have motives for killing him.
