Mildred Pierce (mini-series)
Encyclopedia
Mildred Pierce is a five-part miniseries
that first aired on HBO on March 27, 2011. Adapted from James M. Cain
's 1941
novel
, it was directed by Todd Haynes
, and starred Kate Winslet
in the title role, alongside Guy Pearce
, Evan Rachel Wood
, and Melissa Leo
. Carter Burwell
wrote the original score for the miniseries.
It is the second adaptation of the novel, after the 1945
film noir
produced by Warner Bros.
and starring Joan Crawford
.
who finds herself separated from her husband, opening a restaurant of her own and falling in love with a new man, all the while trying to earn her narcissistic daughter's love and respect. The plot of the miniseries follows Cain's original story, dispensing with the murder subplot which was added for the 1945 film, which starred Crawford.
locations: Peekskill
, Point Lookout
and Merrick
.
assigned the series an average score of 69/100 based on 28 reviews from mainstream critics. Salon.com
called it a "quiet, heartbreaking masterpiece", while The New York Times
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
, reviewing Mildred Pierce for The Daily Beast
and Newsweek
, 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".
The series was shown Out of Competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival
2011.
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
that first aired on HBO on March 27, 2011. Adapted from James M. Cain
James M. Cain
James Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir...
's 1941
1941 in literature
The year 1941 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Frank Herbert marries Flora Parkinson.*F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished work, The Last Tycoon, is edited and published by Edmund Wilson.-New books:...
novel
Mildred Pierce
Mildred Pierce is a 1941 hardboiled novel by James M. Cain. It was made into an Oscar-winning 1945 film starring Joan Crawford and a 2011 Emmy-winning miniseries starring Kate Winslet.-Plot :...
, it was directed by Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
, and starred Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
in the title role, alongside Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
, Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
, and Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
. Carter Burwell
Carter Burwell
Carter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd...
wrote the original score for the miniseries.
It is the second adaptation of the novel, after the 1945
1945 in film
The year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
film noir
Mildred Pierce (film)
Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, and Catherine Turney was based upon the 1941...
produced by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and starring Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
.
Synopsis
Mildred Pierce depicts an overprotective, self-sacrificing mother during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
who finds herself separated from her husband, opening a restaurant of her own and falling in love with a new man, all the while trying to earn her narcissistic daughter's love and respect. The plot of the miniseries follows Cain's original story, dispensing with the murder subplot which was added for the 1945 film, which starred Crawford.
Cast
- Kate WinsletKate WinsletKate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
as Mildred Pierce - Guy PearceGuy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
as Monty Beragon - Evan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again...
as Veda Pierce (Sumi Jo as her singing "voice") - Melissa LeoMelissa LeoMelissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
as Lucy Gessler - Morgan Turner as Young Veda Pierce
- James LeGrosJames LeGrosJames LeGros is an American film and television actor. He is known as a star of independent films with a diversified body of work in the early to mid 1990s.-Personal life:...
as Wally Burgan - Brian F. O'ByrneBrían F. O'ByrneBrían Francis O'Byrne is an Irish actor who works mostly in the United States. He was born in Mullagh, County Cavan.O'Byrne first attracted notice for his performances in the Martin McDonagh plays The Beauty Queen of Leenane as Pato Dooley and The Lonesome West...
as Bert Pierce - Mare WinninghamMare WinninghamMare Winningham , born Mary Megan Winningham, is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Drama Desk, 7 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won an Independent Spirit Award and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.She is...
as Ida Corwin - Hope DavisHope DavisHope Davis is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and Next Stop Wonderland....
as Mrs. Forrester
Production
Parts of the miniseries were filmed in three New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
locations: Peekskill
Peekskill, New York
Peekskill is a city in Westchester County, New York. It is situated on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point.This community was known to be an early American industrial center, primarily for its iron plow and stove products...
, Point Lookout
Point Lookout, New York
Point Lookout is a hamlet located in the town Hempstead in Nassau County, New York. The population was 1,219 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...
and Merrick
Merrick, New York
Merrick is a hamlet in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, USA. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 22,097. The name "Merrick" is taken from Meroke, the name of the Algonquian tribe formerly indigenous to the area...
.
Reception
Mildred Pierce received generally favorable reviews. MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
assigned the series an average score of 69/100 based on 28 reviews from mainstream critics. Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
called it a "quiet, heartbreaking masterpiece", while The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
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
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
".
Novelist Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
, reviewing Mildred Pierce for The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast is an American news reporting and opinion website founded and published by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as well as the short-lived Talk Magazine. The Daily Beast was launched on October 6, 2008, and is owned by IAC...
and Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, 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".
The series was shown Out of Competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival
68th Venice International Film Festival
The 68th annual Venice Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, took place from 31 August to 10 September 2011. American film director Darren Aronofsky was announced as the Head of the Jury. American actor and film director Al Pacino was presented with the Glory to the Film-maker award on 4 September,...
2011.
2011 Primetime Emmy Awards
| Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries represents excellence in the category of miniseries that are considered either six hours or more, or more than two parts.... |
||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | Kate Winslet Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader... |
|
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Guy Pearce Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A... |
|
| Brian F. O'Byrne Brían F. O'Byrne Brían Francis O'Byrne is an Irish actor who works mostly in the United States. He was born in Mullagh, County Cavan.O'Byrne first attracted notice for his performances in the Martin McDonagh plays The Beauty Queen of Leenane as Pato Dooley and The Lonesome West... |
||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood Evan Rachel Wood is an American actress and singer. She began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again... |
|
| Melissa Leo Melissa Leo Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997... |
||
| Mare Winningham Mare Winningham Mare Winningham , born Mary Megan Winningham, is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Drama Desk, 7 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won an Independent Spirit Award and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.She is... |
||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or Movie 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted... |
Todd Haynes Todd Haynes Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is... |
|
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, was held on September 18, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. Fox televised the ceremony within the United States. Actress Jane Lynch hosted... |
Todd Haynes Todd Haynes Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is... and Jon Raymond |
|
2011 Creative Emmy Awards
| Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or Special.-2000s:-2010s:- External links :*, Information Please Database, Pearson PLC... |
||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries or a Movie (non-prosthetic) | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special | Carter Burwell Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd... |
|
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music | ||
Ratings
| Episode(s) | Date | Viewers |
|---|---|---|
| Part One & Part Two | March 27, 2011 | 1.270 million |
| Part Three | April 3, 2011 | 0.987 million |
| Part Four & Part Five | April 10, 2011 | 0.964 million |