|
ESSAYS, ARTICLES, AND THEORIES ABOUT CINEMA
|
|
| |
|
|
| Thursday, July 8, 2010
|
|
MILDRED PIERCE: MILDRED AND HER MEN |
Mildred Pierce is used not only the protagonist’s name, but also the title of the film as well. Perhaps a more suitable title would be “Mildred And Her Men?” It is in fact her entanglement with each male figure that leads her from one event to the next. Her relationship with each of the men in her life, help define their wants and desires from her as well as provide insight into her own wants and desires from each of them.
First relationship explored is Mildred’s with Bert. One value seen in Bert is selfishness. This only contains a negative connotation when compared to another’s needs. His selfishness is seen in the beginning when he walks in the house, appearing standoffish and distant from Mildred. It is clear he puts his needs above the family’s when Mildred calls him out on his infidelity with Maggie Biederhof. He fails to acquire happiness from his family, and therefore he finds comfort selfishly in the hands of someone else. His selfishness is clearly shown with his threat to leave, through a subservient attempt to weaken Mildred to the point where she will give in, however Mildred remains strong and sticks to her convictions, allowing the kids to remain first in the house. Jealousy is the other quality expressed through Bert’s relationship with Mildred. Also shown in the same scene, when the package arrives for Veda, Bert questions the contents. After Mildred explains the content consist a dress she bought with her own hard-working money, Bert, having just gone out of business, is limited by his financial impotence. Even though Mildred is kept in the kitchen, she can, from even in there, make a successful profit over him. While he adamantly considers giving the kids a higher-class experience of life, realistically presenting a false one, he is jealous of her perseverance to do whatever it takes to make them happy. And since he cannot suddenly provide them with the higher accommodations like ballet and piano lessons, he is yet again limited by his financial impotence. His character is devalued because even after he and Mildred separate, he holds off on giving her a divorce until later. He, at first fails to provide her with a divorce because of the business. With everything she owned, half of the business would belong to him, something he does not want to let go. However, he is valued for the same reason when Kay’s death brings him to grips of his past behavior and fails to give her the divorce in hopes for reconciling the marriage. Instead, he is pushed aside by the rise of her newer love interest in Beragon.
From the moment Mildred first lays eyes on Beragon, she is instantly taken aback by his looks, his charisma, and his beach house. One of Beragon’s values is perseverance. Putting something in common between the two of them, Beragon is just as perseverant to acquire Mildred in a love interest, as she is to acquire his land for business. This is shown with the two in the diner. While Mildred first is above him on the ladder, asserting a sense of superiority over Beragon, he convinces her to come down to him level where he finally persuades her to come to his beach house. Another value of Beragon’s is seen as a devalue and that is his immaturity. While at first, he presents himself as a handsome, mature man, while he in turn, reveals to Mildred that he is nothing but a young, immature playboy. This is shown with his reputation, described by Veda as someone seen with the most gorgeous girls around town. The fact he requires the accompaniment of many girls demonstrates him immaturity. While he appears in love with Mildred, he actually gets to a point where he stands in the way of the possible reconnecting of her relationship with Bert. Beragon becomes incompetent with money, thus spiraling his character even further with his “perseverant” need to borrow money from Mildred. Getting caught up in his charm, she cannot help but find happiness with him. Beragon is valued because he provides her with that happiness insofar as making her care about herself for once. Whereas her focus had been on her kids, he is devalued in taking the focus off of them. By occupying her time away from the kids, she is unavailable to be there when Kay needs her, therefore leading to Kay’s death. Beragon is just as fault for Kay’s death as the pneumonia.
Wally’s relationship with Mildred not only serves as additional comic relief for the film, but is vital to the rise of her success. Mildred basically uses Wally as a crutch for progress. One of his values is gullibility. It is revealed that he and Mildred were once childhood friends, which obviously evolved into a plutonic relationship. This led Wally to desire what he in fact could never get. This gullibility handicaps him as a romantic interest and leaves him the only opportunity to provide Mildred with success through her progress. Wally is cast into the limelight when it comes to her other two relationships. This is shown in the scene where Wally throws out the flowers Beragon leaves for Mildred. It is through his business that she was introduced to Bert and Beragon. His apparent infatuation with Mildred is hidden by his flirtatious façade. This leads him devalued as a character through his profession shift in society. Wally goes from being a real estate agent to a restaurant executive, all the way to the owner of a bar. His down-spiral is primarily related to Mildred and her own financial down-spiral.
It was the three men who all drove Mildred almost to the point where she considered suicide. Where, in the beginning, she does not drink and was shown brightly illuminated with light, her descent into men led her to drink and into the darkness. |
|
posted by Will Lewis 11:24 PM
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
