Known for its superb acting, production, and cinematography, Mildred Pierce is a compelling American film. The film embeds the theme of maternal love in the film noir genre, and explores complex issues of human nature, including women's desire, mother-daughter identity, and women's independence, through the organic integration of film noir and motherhood. It is both a unique film noir and a classic model of feminist film studies.
The film has a distinct film noir style in narrative and tone. The film adopts the flashback technique common in noir films, and traces the whole story of a murder case from the perspective of the heroine through the questioning of Millie by the inspector. In terms of narrative, the film uses a progressive method of peeling cocoons layer by layer. As the story unfolds, the suspects of Walliver, Bert, and Millie are ruled out one by one, and this confusing murder case gradually surfaced. , the whole process is exciting. In terms of image style, the film's low-key lighting, large areas of black and flickering shadows all create a blurred tone atmosphere, reflecting the typical film noir characteristics. Within the framework of the film noir genre, the film incorporates a twisting and harrowing tale of maternal love. In this part, the video style is similar to that of traditional Hollywood melodrama, simple and bright, but the issues touched go deep into the hearts of women.
Although the film explores the inner life of women and makes some efforts in expressing women's independent consciousness. But as a classic Hollywood film, the film is still bound by traditional patriarchal ideology. In the film, Burt is always a cornerstone of the family's process from the beginning to the final recovery. The film's condemnation of Vida and the reconciliation between Millie and Burt at the end of the film all imply the denial of female desire and the reconstruction of traditional family relationships. Such characters and plot arrangements, with a clear patriarchal ideology
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