Mildred Peirce

The film Mildred Pierce is the story of a woman who wanted to give her children the life she never had at any cost. After a divorce that shakes her reality Mildred must contend with her children, the men in her life and her flourishing business. Mildred is caught in the position that many working mothers are trapped in, “how do I balance work and home responsibilities”. At the beginning Mildred is a housewife, after the divorce it is necessary for her to get a job to stay afloat. Mildred hides this from her snobby older daughter. The film shows Mildred as a capable worker who catches on quickly. After a short time the film shows that the older daughter finds out about her job and insults her mother calling her lowly, the daughter eventually takes it too far and Mildred slaps her. This seems to be the film punishing Mildred and her daughter because of the lack of parents in the house. This punishment through her children also takes place in the scene of the death of the younger daughter. The youngest daughter is sweet, full of life and seems to be a good person. She is the daughter you hope the film gives a massive pile of opportunity and happiness. This is not the case, the film builds up the youngest daughter to make her death that more tragic. When Mildred finds out that her daughter is ill she is returning form a very romantic date in which for a brief moment Mildred was not thinking about the business or her children. The film punishes the mother for not always keeping her children at the forefront. To add insult to injury when the sick girl was brought home Mildred wasn't there so the father brings the girl to the house of the woman Mildred suspected him of having an affair with during their marriage. Mildred walks in and witnesses the last moment of her youngest daughters life, this is an important moment in the film because it changes Mildred's drive from just success and happiness to funneling her pain into making her older daughter happy. Perhaps in this way she is compensating for not being there for the youngest daughter. This means that Mildred plunges into work which leaves the home front unattended, in a move to handle both the film shows Mildred essentially trying to buy the affections of her eldest daughter. The film also shows that the only kind of men that seem to be interested in a woman with money are unscrupulous men such as Wally or mooches like Beragon. This seems to be another way the film punishes Mildred. The reward the film gives Mildred for her hard work is success in business and what seems to be failure in every other front. Her daughter is a spoiled brat who thinks only of her own happiness, Mildred's new husband that she marries for the happiness of her older daughter cheats on Mildred with the older daughter and Mildred has her business taken away from her for poor business deals. When Mildred has her livelihood taken away all of her hard work seems for nothing, the film shows that she sacrificed her life and everything she loved for money to keep her only living daughters affections. The film's message seems to be that the new woman can succeed in the business world but at the expense of everything else.