Mildred Pierce depicts an overprotective, self-sacrificing mother during the Great Depression who finds herself separated from her husband, opening a restaurant of her own and falling in love with a man, all the while trying to earn her spoiled, narcissistic daughter's love and respect.
This glittering new Mildred Pierce, which features Kate Winslet in the title role, is frankly the crystal meth of quality TV: instantly and scarily addictive. It is not as dizzyingly self-aware as Haynes's great film masterpiece Far from Heaven – the tribute to Douglas Sirk that went beyond mere pastiche – but it is managed with the same confidence and passion, and Kate Winslet is better than ever.
Monster Movie Michael Koresky on Mildred Pierce. One think piece after another these days identifies television as the new frontier for challenging, adult, cinematic material; while this is understandable considering the breathtaking emotional impact of The Sopranos, as well as the genuinely compelling, provocative dramatic series that sprung up in its wake (The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad), playing such games of equivalency is just the latest, most.
