Please don't tell me that some people will ignore such exaggerated shoulder pads when watching this film. I almost didn't spit up when I watched it for the first time. It's almost like Zhong Kui. From the perspective of the 21st century, women wearing shoulder pads is definitely a sign of old fashioned + poor quality. But Joan Crawford, you have to say that she is not a big beauty, and yes, she does not look like Vivien Leigh, Monroe or Hepburn, but she still loves her (she also has Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, in my mind "The Four Heavenly Queens who are stronger than men"). Besides her, who else can wear such a shocking shoulder pad so chic and tough.
Having said that, shoulder pads are definitely not used for fun. It represents the success of women in the workplace and the threat it poses to men. In other words, when a woman's shoulder pads are wider than all men's, it's time for her to step down and take a bow.
From a historical point of view, why was the film delayed until after World War II? That is to appease the vast number of World War II veterans. In times of war, everything is easy to say. No matter how successful women are in the workplace, they serve the men on the front lines. Not after the war. When the men returned to the motherland with scars from the battlefield, they did not want to see a group of women carelessly occupying the jobs that belonged to them. So on the surface this movie is definitely made to punish women for being overly successful, it says to them that no matter how successful a woman is, she is still a woman, she is vain, she is irrational, she will still be deceived by men in the end, she Still need a man to save. A man may be disappointed for a while, but once he has a career and a job, women will still come back to him.
However, this result is only superficial, it is still a story about women with big shoulder pads and a bunch of useless, unscrupulous men. A careful analysis of the men in the film is not difficult to see. The first husband Bert lost his job and even his family. His disappointment indirectly contributed to the success of his ex-wife, which is a stark contrast. Although he is good, of course he finally found a job and seems to have found his wife, but after all, he is a person who even the ex-wife's employee, Ida, dismissed him. The second husband, Monty, is a playboy, the owner of his ancestral property, and in the end he is reduced to a male prostitute. And Wally, the only successful professional in the field, is an out-and-out cunning and cunning. Although he is successful in business (a large part of it depends on Mildred), he has no women, and men without women in old Hollywood are not men. No difference. Not to mention that Monty and Wally are not very masculine in their appearance, Bert is relatively angular, not to mention Joan Crawford, who is opposite them.
Looking at the women in turn, needless to say, Mildred Pierce is a strong woman. She is more successful than all the men in the film. Although it seems that she was later deceived by Wally and Monty, it should be easy for a woman like her to make a comeback. Only the daughter ate her to the death. Her assistant, Ida, seems to be more masculine than her. In the film, she has no family, no love, only her neatness in work and her unwavering loyalty to Mildred. She can be described as a hero among women. As for her daughter Veda, she is a very interesting character, not to mention femme fatale. No man would dare to say no to such a woman. After saying that, just wait for the gun. She's also the only one who can play Mildred Pierce, who is better than a man. After the murder, she was embarrassed to say to her mother, "I'm a rotten person, but it's all your fault." No matter who they are, they can only say "I" to her. If you pay attention carefully, almost all the important plot developments in Mildred Pierce's film are related to Veda. For example, the fuse of the parents' divorce was to buy a dress for her, Mildred's success was to make her live a good life, and Mildred's marriage was for her vanity. Heart. It was only at the end that I realized that she was the real boss behind the scenes. Sure enough, it's bad, which makes people grit their teeth. It's a combination of the shortcomings of the world. At the same time, I think that men are not as ruthless as her. Whatever the outcome, the most memorable and captivating things in this movie are definitely these women with big shoulder pads. People can't help but want to shout to the sky: Let the shoulder pads come more violently!
PS: The style of this film is my great love. The opening scene of Wally at the beach house made me feel like I was watching an expressionist film in the 1920s. Not to mention the scene scheduling after that, the actors move. I appreciate the few shot/reverse shots. There are many long shots of three-person dialogue in this movie, two women and one man or two men and one woman, forming a triangular composition, and then moving through the position/camera or indirectly changing the position of the characters, it is very, very worthy of scrutiny, as expected It is a black classic. It's a pity on the other hand: They don't make'em like that anymore
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