Film Analysis: Mildred Pierce - Movie Review Example

Film Analysis: Mildred Pierce Introduction: Mildred Pierce is a ic film made in the film noir genre, representing a crisis in feminity. It was a film made at the end of the World war, after women had been involve din the war effort but were then expected to return to home and hearth and revert to their submissive role. The story of Mildred Pierce deals with a woman who divorces her husband, takes up a business and is savvy at it. But the outcome is tragic and she finally returns to her husband, with the film subtly portraying the message that the end result of women’s emancipation and renunciation of their female duties is destructive. Brief synopsis of the storyline: The film is the story of Mildred Pierce, a woman of humble roots who is married to Bert and has two daughters – Veda and Kay. Her husband is a successful real estate entrepreneur with his partner Wally, but ultimately loses his job, so Mildred begins to bake pies and sell them to make money to provide nice things for her daughters. The older daughter Veda is a spoilt brat but Mildred loves her and is determined to provide nice things for her. When her husband disagrees with her and refuses to let her spend money on pampering Veda and spoiling her, Mildred leaves him and is determined to get a job. After a great deal of struggle, she lands a job as a waitress and learns the nuts and bolts of the restaurant business, so that she can pay for Veda’s piano lessons and other vanities. She enters into an agreement with a man named Monty who is from a higher class to buy his house in order to satisfy her daughter’s craving to live a rich lifestyle. She even makes him a partner in her restaurant business. Everything she does is for her daughter Veda. But as the girl grows up, she turns out to be a spoilt brat who expresses her contempt for her mother’s humble roots and is completely ungrateful for all the sacrifices her mother has made on her behalf. Finally, she even wants to run away with Monty and kills him when he refuses to run away with her. Analysis: Champoux (1999:206), points out that “film enhances the learning process in ways unavailable in other media.” The film Mildred Pierce provides several positive images of women however the ultimate objective in the film is to illustrate the destructive effects of such liberation. In this aspect therefore, the film is one that falls into the classic film noir category. Orr (1997) considers two basic approaches to genre theory and describes one that is applicable to the film Mildred Pierce. This approach holds that the genre of a film cannot be defined by its dominant expression but rather by the sub text which create a framework of expectations, Hence the application of such an approach is audience based and its impact is geared to produce a specific reaction in an audience , for example, a tragic plot generates pity and fear in an audience. Genre noir of the film: This is relevant and applicable in the case of the film Mildred Pierce. The genre of the film can be classed as noir, however its effect is in the subtext that underlies the story, which is in tended to produce a specific reaction in the women among the audiences – i.e, to bring home to them the disastrous results of moving away from home and hearth. The tragedy of Mildred Pierce’s life, especially in regard to her daughters and her personal life, is meant to evoke fear and pity in the female audiences. This film was produced just after the war, so it was a message to women to return to their families and their earlier submissive roles. Mildred Pierce is portrayed positively at first, the audience cannot help but admire her grit and determination to make it and her success in the restaurant business also shows that women are capable of being shrewd business people. But the underlying message is that such business cannot be achieved without tremendous personal cost – for example, Mildred loses her daughter Kay when she is out with her lover Monty, she turns her other daughter Veda into a femme fatale by spoiling her, so that all her hard work and sacrifice for her daughter ultimately is wasted because her daughter turns out to be a murderess. Thus in this sense, Mildred has turned out to be a bad mother – she is technically a failure. Patriarchal society: The film conveys these subtle messages especially through the use of symbols. For example, the last scene is particularly effective. The opening scene takes place in the dark and with rain, thunder and lightning – symbolizing the period when everything is dark and unknown to the audience. The interrogation of Mildred Pierce takes place in a darkened room. But once the true culprit has been revealed, the policemen pulls back the curtain and the light streams into the window – a figurative and literal symbol of the darkness being torn away to let in the light. The sub text of this scene is meant to capture and provoke a certain reaction in the audience – pity for Mildred and fear of falling into her position. It is literally a message to women not to attempt to deceive their husbands for sooner or later the shades will be drawn and the truth will be revealed. The “darkness” in this case is Mildred’s neglect of her womanly duties and her rebellion and divorce from her husband. Once she realizes the destructive end it has reached, the fact that she has realized her lesson is brought home to the audience when she leaves the police station and her husband is waiting for her in the corridor outside. The policeman pulling aside the drapes when the mystery is revealed further enhances the message of the male who is successful in shedding light on the murder of Monty despite the attempts of the two women – Mildred and Veda – to deceive him. As Mildred is shown walking to her husband, the audience realizes that since their bone of contention – Veda – is now out of the picture, the couple can be reconciled. But the most significant symbol that emphasizes the message of the return to feminity as it should be practiced is in the image of the women who are quietly scrubbing the floors. This provides the subtle allusion that feminine power is not to be overtly displayed – it must be humble and faceless so that the patriarchal nature of society can be preserved. However, this message is borne home in audiences, through the skilful use of earlier positive images. In a post war society, it caters to an audience of women returned from the war, who had been active in the war effort, Therefore, images such as Mildred struggling and making a success of her life, her strong friendship with Ida which is completely free of any kind of power manipulation provide clear and positive affirmation of the capabilities of women and their ability to be successful in business. However the film seeks to reveal the chaos that such a path can create in a woman’s life and thereby reiterates the patriarchal images. Manipulation of time: The manipulation of time is also evident in the film. The classical filmmaker needs an opening that grabs a viewer’s attention, “that concentrated, preliminary exposition that plunges us in medias res.” (Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson, 1985: 42) This film makes use of three successive flashbacks in the plot in order to tell the story and it is one of the rare films that employs this technique. The film begins with a scene that grabs audience attention – six shots ringing out and a man murdered, with the scene being viewed through a mirror. However, some scenes are withheld at the beginning of the film, so that when they are replayed at the end of the film with the audience knowledge of who the murderer actually is, it is an effective denouement. The plot of the story is such that the story jumps back and forth in time, in order to sustain audience interest – it is what the camera picks up, while the narrative of the story is “our mental construct, a structure of inferences we make on the basis of selected aspects of the plot.” (Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson, 1985:12). On this basis therefore, the way the plot is presented to the viewer leads the audience to suspect Mildred, her husband Bert and even Wally to be the murderer while the actual person who fired those shots is Veda. Through skilful omission in the initial scene and the use of elements of suspense, the film maintains that clear distinction between the plot where tension has to be sustained which goes side by side with the narrative where a voice over method is used – Mildred telling the story. The narration does not therefore follow a strictly time sequence approach. Events are presented as the camera sees them and the audience is left to arrive at its own conclusions, until the denouement reveals all. For example, one such hidden element is the fact that Veda is having an affair with Monty, another is the fact that Monty and Wally were preparing to buy out Mildred and ruin her towards the end of the film. This not only provides motivation to suspect Mildred but also reveals the tragedy of her life and the fact that all her sacrifice for her daughter is in vain, because she has ended up not being a good mother. She has rejected her home and her place beside her husband and her daughter represents the evil that she could have turned into. References: * Bordwell, David, Staiger, Janet and Thompson, Kristin, 1985. “The Classical Hollywood Cinema, Film Style and the Mode of Production to 1960” London: Routledge, * Champoux, J.E., 1999. “Film as a teaching resource.” Journal of management Inquiry, 8(2): 206-217. * Orr, Christopher, 1997. “Genre theory in the context of the noir and post noir film” Film Criticism, 22. Read More