I Love You Mommie Dearest

Mommie Dearest is a 1981biopic, detailing the later years of famed screen siren Joan Crawford, and her troubled relationship with her adopted daughter, actress Christina Crawford. The film is an adaptation of Christina Crawfords memoir of the same name. The film stars Faye Dunaway as Crawford, in a truly chameleonic performance. The film received mixed reviews upon release and won the razzie award for worst picture, the film has since however gone one to become a cult classic.

The film, much like the novel, uses a cinematic form of first person narrative. The novel is a memoir, and is thus neither a factual account nor an unbiased documentary, the film is instead a work of fiction which is based upon one persons account of events, which do not claim to be unbiased or balanced. The problem with this is that it makes the film seem over the top and a little camp, whereas in the novel, the scene of Joan attacking her daughter for using a wire hanger and morphing into a complete monster may work in a novel using first person narrative. In film, despite many attempts to subvert this, narrative is nearly always third person, as most of the time we are watching the film as an outsider, and thus the gloriously over the top performance by Faye Dunaway whilst perhaps being appropriate to the character described in the novel, needed to be toned down for the film.

The film describes the period from Crawford's adoption of Christina, until Crawford's death. The film shows Crawford to be a rigorous and almost pathologically disciplined person, she rises at dawn to perform a precise beauty regimen, has a crippling exercise regime and peruses scripts with a highlighter, the character's career is shown to be steadily on the decline, and her companion notes that she is getting older. Her films are grossing less and less money and she is becoming known as box office poison, she is released from her contract at metro, a grievance which she unabashedly takes out on her children, who are now about ten. She then attempts to make a comeback, campaigning and auditioning for the part of Mildred Pearce, the role that would eventually win her an Oscar.

The latter part of the film details her declining relationship with her daughter, now a young woman, and aspiring actress, and her declining health, this part of the film is considerably less camp than the first part, and despite being perhaps less salacious, it is considerably more interesting, as it is an intense study of the terse relationship between mother and daughter, and offers much more in the way of real information than the shrill first half of the film.

Faye Dunaway is fantastic as Joan Crawford, it is never easy to impersonate another, particularly someone as iconic and beloved as Joan Crawford, what is impressive is not only her metamorphosis into Crawford, but the way she manages to present a rounded view of a truly horrific woman. Despite Crawford being unabashedly the villain in this film, Dunaway plays her in such a way that we understand her as a person, and she does not become two-dimensional.

As i mentioned before, this film is incredibly camp, Dunaways performance is, at times gloriously over the top and sometimes plain daft, she has emotional depth and manages to steal every scene in which she sets foot. The film also suffers from pacing issues, and various moments in the film (mostly when Dunaway is offscreen) can seem a little dull, the film also feels the need at times to resort to bitchy salaciousness, which does often feel unnecessary, and cheapens the whole film.

Overall Mommie Dearest is a perfectly enjoyable, and rether watchable film, featuring a strong lead performance from Dunaway as Crawford. Despite the film not providing any real insight into the private life of such a regimented woman, it is an entertaining watch none the less. Rating: B

Joan Crawford: No wire hangers, EVER!