In previous postings many seem to agree that although Veda was pretty straight forward about the type of person she was Mildred was blind to it. Why do you think that was? Mildred seems so level headed in dealing with other people and saw them for what they were why not Veda? Also, why did Mildred favor Veda so much over Kay? To me, there seems to be no logical reason except to advance the plot. Any ideas out there?
shareIt's got to be a parenting thing. In general, I think that parents want their kids respect but also want friendship. I've seen parents make excuse after excuse for their bad children, even when their kids are in their 20's and 30's.
Not sure why Mildred favored Veda unless she could tell Veda didn't really respect or love her. So Mildred tried to buy Veda's love and let her do whatever she wanted to (including talking down to and disrespecting her mother) without consequences.
Of course, it escalates. That whole line of Monte's divorcing you and I'm going to marry him was outrageous. She should have beat the hell out of her. But what does she do? Takes the rap for killing him instead of Veda. Still trying to get the love and respect.
And Mildred never got either...
Mildred wanted Veda and Kay to have everything Mildred did nnot have when she was growing up. She was always trying hard to make money, so maybe she was so wrapped up in her work that she never saw how spoiled Veda was becoming.
shareMildred's blindness is precisely what Veda uses to manipulate her mother into thinking it was her fault her daughter turned out the way she did. She claimed her mother spoiled her too much, always let her get away with everything, and basically owed it to her to cover up for her and give her another chance to change (which, of course she won't).
On another note, if anyone were to check out Casey Anthony's bio, she lies, deceives, cheats, and uses her mother constantly, yet her mother kept covering for her. To her credit, unlike with Mildred, the mother did take action when the most extreme of circumstances, Kaylee's disappearance, happened; she calls the police and testifies about Casey's constant lying.
BUT, like Mildred, she cannot ever give up on her daughter. Supposedly in court, her mother even mouthed "I love you" to her during the trial and Casey, point-blank, completely shuns her mother and looks away.
I thought that Kay was a balancing influence in both Mildred and Veda's lives. Veda was a spoiled brat, but she seemed to love her sister. I don't think Mildred so much favored Veda over Kay as she realized that Kay was a low maintenance child compared to Veda. I think the movie took pains to make this point in the early scenes.
shareI don't think Mildred favored Veda over Kay at all. Kay was easy to please and clearly adored her mother. Veda was just harder to "win over" for Mildred. That's why she spoiled her so much- Mildred was under the delusion that she could buy Veda's love by giving her whatever she wanted. Like Greenteeth said, Kay was low maintenance, while Veda was high maintenance. I have a sister who reminds me of Veda (though far less evil!), and there's a similar dynamic in my house. She's materialistic and has high standards, so it takes more to make her happy. As a parent, all Mildred wanted was for her children to be happy and to have everything she didn't. Many parents make the mistake of giving their children what they want to keep them quiet or to "make them happy". Mildred was guilty of this, which is why she tried to take the blame for Monte's murder. She knew her parenting contributed to Veda's behavior.
I always thought that the reason Mildred put up with Veda for so long was because of Kay's death. That's why she wanted Veda to come back, even after she kicked her out. She wasn't blind to what her daughter had become, she just couldn't bear to lose another child (and the only one she had left).
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Excellent post! I agree completely!
shareShe's a mom. Maternal love isn't rational; it's deep and fierce and primal. She's biologically programmed to love Veda unconditionally. It's the reason why many parents out there enable their criminal/drug addict/etc. children. They feel they can do nothing else. No matter what their children do, they're still their children.
I think Mildred simply regarded Kay as the easier child. She was better behaved, less demanding, etc., and Mildred was secure in knowing she loved her. On the other hand, Veda wasn't as easy, so Mildred craved her love and appreciation. She may have treated her daughters differently, but that doesn't mean she loved one more than the other.
Lisbeth Salander is my girl and don't you forget it.
Maternal love can often be very irrational when it comes to their children's behavior. Just watch the nightly news when there is a gang killing and the gang members mother usually says what a great kid he was! Ya great, multiple arrests and various crimes!
shareI found the relationship between Mildred and Veda simply didn't ring true. Veda was a shallow unrealistic caricature and her mother's reactions were unnatural.
I think it is one of the big differences in film-making of that time versus now. Back then there was more manipulation through 2-dimensional characters. If they wanted you to hate someone, they threw all subtlety out the window. I'm surprised they didn't have Veda kick a puppy.
Mildred's doormat reaction to Veda's over-the-top spoiled brat behavior was necessary to get the film where it wanted to go but it simply didn't seem realistic to me. It didn't seem in tune with other things we saw of her character and it wasn't like human beings I have known.
It all seemed very written to me. Not natural.
Agree on this. The characters are both shallow and unrealistic but on the other hand it's seductive and dark (Which is why I assumed we watched it)
shareThat is the case with many movies. Actually I see much more of this in movies today than back then.
-Bert was the philandering husband, who would rather spend time with his mistress than look for a job or support his family at the beginning. But as the film progressed, he did redeem himself by acknowledging Mildred as a hard-working individual, who could stand on her own two feet and decided to give her the divorce. He was even willing to take the fall for Veda. Partly, because he still cared, but I suspect also b/c he was trying to make up for not being a great husband (at least not at the end).
-Mrs. Biederhof: I LOVE that she was portrayed as a caring person, who helped get Kay the help she needed and showed Mildred compassion when she lost her youngest. Usually, unless the character is the protagonist, they go completely the other way with the "other woman." She was even able to marry and move, despite Mildred's snarky line, "Someone actually married Mrs. Biederhof."
-Wally is a very smarmy character, made no secret of his lust for Mildred, and was always self-serving. But even considering all that, he did seem to go out of his way to advise and help Mildred, more than I can see other guys doing in his position (this might be more my personal life experiences than actual reality, lol). While, he did ultimately cheat Mildred out of the business, he did warn her that Monty was bleeding her dry and she would regret taking him into the business. He's a rat, but I can't say I sympathized much with Mildred as far as Monty went.
Overall, I love how everyone was characterized in this movie. Even characters who hardly had any time at all, like the cops who take in Wally, get plenty of character and funny lines to their credit.
there is a gang killing and the gang members mother usually says what a great kid he was!
Sometimes it is bc they do not see their sons within the context of the street or the gang.
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
The movie doesn't tell much of how Ms Pierce brought up her two daughters. But I think Ms Pierce spoiled her daughter Veda since she was a small baby girl. And probably gave her "everything" she demanded. And may have "forgotten" to teach this girl, like all children whether boy or girl, that there are "limits", and didn't correct her when it was needed. The result was a small girl growing into a demanding "monster". And when she was a teenager it was "too late". I did feel sorry for Ms Pierce. But something tells me our friend Veda learned her lesson the tragic hard way: killing a man who may have seduced her, and probably got "fresh" with her besides stealing the mother's money. At the end I also felt sorry for Veda. But this will be a lesson she will NEVER forget. And love this Ann Blyth in this role! Not only is great "film noir" and something of "soap opera", but also quite psychological and social criticism this great classic. Just my opinions, of course. Saw it recently in a library loan dvd.
Personally I'm not sure if Mildred is to blame. I haven't read the book, but from what I've heard, Mildred is shown to be strict when need be, and is not above spanking her children, yet Veda still turned out the way she did. There are times when even child psychologists have to throw up their hands and say that some children are just born that way, and there's no way to fix them. If that's the case, there was nothing Mildred could do.
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I think in the beginning of the movie the husband Bert complained to Mildred for the way she was bringing up the girls. And blame her for they being "spoiled". But what made things worse it was when this rich bum of Monti came to the picture and turned Veda into real mess, Any wonder why I was happy when she blew this idiot to hell? "Veda, you are a sweetheart for killing that bum!" At the end I came to forgive her and show some sympathy. But Veda was entering to real hell when she may be found guilty of manslaughter in court, and the judge sentence her either to a girls' correction institute or the women's state penintenciary. And the female inmates there are going to make her life a living hell. And the old female guards there are not friendly either [some with lesbianic tendencies and sadism]. That's why i felt sorry for her. But if she survives the ordeal, and don't go crazy, she might become a better adult young woman in her thirties. Who knows? Seeing her at the age of forty in a Salvation Army uniform in the band. Time will tell.
shareI think in the beginning of this film, Mildred spoiled her because she saw that special talent in her, despite being a COW, Veda did have some special spark about her. However, with the death of Kay I think that Mildred held on to the one child she had left. She didn't want her to go away like her youngest daughter did and I think that in her way, spoiling Veda was keeping her around.
shareI'm currently watching the 2011 version, and while I recall finding Mildred's blind devotion to Veda frustrating in the Cain novel and the 1945 film, in the new version I find it downright disturbing - forget wanting to slap Veda - I want to slap Mildred and tell her to wake up and smell the coffee that everyone else can smell.
"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."
I adored little Kay.
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
Mildred Pearce is told in flashback, like many Noirs, emphasizing recapitulation, the return of the past, the past embedded in the present. Mildred's inability to control or discipline "Vida" is her own un-owned shadow: her pride, class resentments, her sexual drive (with Monti), and--their biggest bond—self-hatred and shame. These blind spots in her own self are embodied in her daughter, to be repeated endlessly until confronted. We see the film from Mildred's point of view, and so (as the bewildered posts in this very thread illustrate), her blindness is transferred to the viewer, and we vicariously share in her pride (the business-building sequence). Mildred's blindness toward "Veda" is the core of the film. Veda is there to say "I am your character flaws, the materialism that seeped into and spoiled your marriage, the shame that drove your ambition." The relationship between Veda and Mildred is the relationship between ambition and shame, between snobbery and self-hatred. Veda’s snobbery is Mildred not forgiving herself for “the uniform in the closet”. The strategic inclusion of an African-American (at that time--pre-war flashback-- a de-facto second-class citizen), underscores the theme of status. Veda shooting Monti is merely an enacting of Mildred's uncompleted gesture (Mildred hates herself for being a whore to status (Monti’s appeal)a truth embodied in the Veda-Monti reveal. The past embedded in the present, the flaws of Mildred, dread and mildew developing into a piercing odor, a rotten Veda. Joan Crawford’s rigid facepaint and costume almost guarantee a return of the repressed.
Was that a review or a psychology paper?
shareMildred is just a moron. Her daughter is so precious she leaves her alone constantly with not one, but two lady-killers? She is so proud of her business that she gives it away for no reason?
share