Pinot Noir #8
Film Club Tonight: MILDRED PIERCE
Pinot Noir, your favorite film club is tonight, and we are watching the rapturing skills of Joan Crawford in MILDRED PIERCE!
What can I say about this masterpiece that hasn’t already been said?! It is of course not to be confused with the Kate Winslet mini-series remake from 2011, which quite frankly, I have never seen! Not because I don’t want to. I promise I do.
Mildred Pierce (1945) starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth and a bunch of men is a powerhouse of a movie that has been called both a Film Noir and a Noir leaning story. It follows a mother of two daughters (Crawford) who decides to open her own restaurant after her husband leaves her for a younger woman. Despite the restaurant’s success, her eldest daughter Veda (Blyth) is so not ok with it. It’s like, totally beneath her to have a working mom! The mother-daughter relationship in this movie will drive you INSANE, so hold onto your hats! So why is it considered Noir/Noir leaning? The film is framed around Mildred’s second husband’s mysterious death! How more Noir can it get! Need more convincing? This trailer for the movie from 1945 says Mildred is a woman who REFUSES TO LIVE BY THE RULES! An ex-lover describes being with her as something akin to shaking hands with the devil! That’s a femme fetale baby! (…or is it? I have more to say on that in this video!)
Where to watch:
You can find Mildred Pierce streaming on the TCM app or if you subscribe to Criterion. Additionally, it’s available to rent on most platforms, or as always for free on archive.org!
Come back to discuss!
I’ll start a Subscribers only chat thread tonight at 8 PM EST to discuss the film. I cannot wait to hear how much you hate Veda!!!
As always, the list of films is free but if you want to participate in community discussion of the films, that will be for paid subscribers only! I spend over 20 hours a week keeping this newsletter as salacious as it is, so please do consider becoming a paid subscriber to help me out!
