Mildred Pierce
HBO | Release Date: March 27, 2011
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
SlateTroy PattersonMar 25, 2011
Season 1 Review: Preferring to redomesticize Mildred Pierce, Haynes arrives at a film--a five-part, five-hour miniseries--that is merely pretty good. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushMar 25, 2011
Season 1 Review: This nearly six-hour adaptation is an over-indulgently languid showcase for Winslet to shine as the iconic and ultimate Mother Martyr. Read full review
50
USA TodayRobert BiancoMar 24, 2011
Season 1 Review: Extending for five hours over three weekly segments, this luxuriously produced miniseries is so gorgeous, even in its re-creation of the Depression, that it practically shimmers. It's also slow to the point where "languid" doesn't even begin to do it justice. Read full review
50
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardMar 24, 2011
Season 1 Review: While the miniseries is more faithful to the 1941 James M. Cain novel of the same name, Todd Haynes' adaptation (he co-wrote the teleplay, directed and acted as one of the executive producers on this five-part bloated whale) is so draining, it might make you anemic. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyMar 24, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's a five-part drama that is loyally, unwaveringly true to James M. Cain's 1941 novel and somehow not nearly as satisfying as the 1945 film noir that took shameless liberties with plot, characters and settings. Read full review
40
HitfixAlan SepinwallMar 25, 2011
Season 1 Review: You can blame Winslet, or Haynes, or both, but something doesn't fit, and it wrecks everything, above and beyond spending so much time on a story that could have been just as satisfyingly told at half the length. Read full review
40
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanMar 24, 2011
Season 1 Review: I came away from HBO's five-part series with a great deal of respect for Winslet's impassioned performance, but so many other aspects of Mildred Pierce worked against Winslet's naturalistic style that parts of the miniseries ended up being, frankly, a slog. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanMar 23, 2011
Season 1 Review: When all the storytelling is coming to a climax, there's something missing--the same connection that was absent between Mildred and Veda from the start. Read full review
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