In Michael Curtiz’s 1945 film, Mildred Pierce, the director and producers mix both the woman’s film and the film noir genre to create a mysterious, yet empowering piece. The film Mildred Pierce, released in 1945, can be defined as both a film noir and a woman’s film, because of the use of mixing elements from each film genre. This film incorporates aspects of the woman’s film that include familiar plots such as rags to riches, themes of love and marriage as well as “the choice”, which can be seen when Mildred decides to separate from her first husband Bert. All of these themes are incorporated and mixed in with the film noir elements including lighting iconography, the noir protagonist, and the femme fatale.
Joan Crawford, who plays Mildred …show more content…
In this case, the movie works in the debate between Mildred and Bert, and eventually Mildred is forced to make “the choice”, to divorce Bert and raise the children on her own. Basinger states that, “Every movie female has to confront the major action of the woman's film: making a choice” (Basinger, 19). Mildred is the clear protagonist in this film as she bound by the rules of womanhood, and defined by nature and society. She lives by the classic woman standards and controls the household taking on all cooking and cleaning tasks, until she is forced to make a poignant “choice” to divorce Bert. In this case, “the choice” is very important to the woman’s film. Mildred has to make the choice to run the household on her own, during a time when women are meant to always have a husband and be subservient to their husbands whom bring home the money and pay the bills. Mildred's behaviors in this case, exceed the norms as she pushes the limits of her character during the time and decides to live on her own. The fact that Mildred and Bert do not see eye to eye on many of their family values, is a major cause for their split. Bert believes Veda to be a spoiled brat, while Mildred insists on spoiling Veda constantly. Not only do Mildred and Bert disagree on many things in their marriage, but also Mildred believes that Bert is seeing …show more content…
It is important to notice that the two genres are not so obviously set apart that it makes the viewer angry or uncomfortable with no uniformity. Mildred Pierce perfectly mixes, “the meeting of two different ‘styles’ or ‘languages’ derived from different cultures” (Staiger, 71). In the case of this film, the two different cultures are the woman’s film and film noir. This structure changes the mood in the film and allows for dialogue between two different types of people. Rather than all of the characters being similar, we are able to see Mildred as the woman’s novel protagonist, while Veda encompasses the more evil, film noir character, who commits crimes with her dark side. It is important to notice that the film creates overlap between the two genres rather than the crossbreed disrupting the language. The inbreeding of both genres creates dialogue between the two genres that allow the mixing throughout the film to
Joan Crawford, who plays Mildred …show more content…
In this case, the movie works in the debate between Mildred and Bert, and eventually Mildred is forced to make “the choice”, to divorce Bert and raise the children on her own. Basinger states that, “Every movie female has to confront the major action of the woman's film: making a choice” (Basinger, 19). Mildred is the clear protagonist in this film as she bound by the rules of womanhood, and defined by nature and society. She lives by the classic woman standards and controls the household taking on all cooking and cleaning tasks, until she is forced to make a poignant “choice” to divorce Bert. In this case, “the choice” is very important to the woman’s film. Mildred has to make the choice to run the household on her own, during a time when women are meant to always have a husband and be subservient to their husbands whom bring home the money and pay the bills. Mildred's behaviors in this case, exceed the norms as she pushes the limits of her character during the time and decides to live on her own. The fact that Mildred and Bert do not see eye to eye on many of their family values, is a major cause for their split. Bert believes Veda to be a spoiled brat, while Mildred insists on spoiling Veda constantly. Not only do Mildred and Bert disagree on many things in their marriage, but also Mildred believes that Bert is seeing …show more content…
It is important to notice that the two genres are not so obviously set apart that it makes the viewer angry or uncomfortable with no uniformity. Mildred Pierce perfectly mixes, “the meeting of two different ‘styles’ or ‘languages’ derived from different cultures” (Staiger, 71). In the case of this film, the two different cultures are the woman’s film and film noir. This structure changes the mood in the film and allows for dialogue between two different types of people. Rather than all of the characters being similar, we are able to see Mildred as the woman’s novel protagonist, while Veda encompasses the more evil, film noir character, who commits crimes with her dark side. It is important to notice that the film creates overlap between the two genres rather than the crossbreed disrupting the language. The inbreeding of both genres creates dialogue between the two genres that allow the mixing throughout the film to