Mildred Pierce (2011): Cast, Plot & Where to Watch

Mildred Pierce [Kate Winslet] is a housewife in Glendale, California in 1931, living through the harsh realities of the Great Depression. She and her husband Bert [Brían F. O’Byrne] have two daughters, the poised and ambitious Veda [Evan Rachel Wood] and the younger Moire, nicknamed “Ray.” Bert’s work as a home developer has dried up as the economy sinks, leaving Mildred to shoulder the family’s finances with a trickle of bakery sales to neighbors and a quiet, relentless fear that her daughters will be ashamed of her if they learn she’s working at all. The initial strain between Mildred and Bert ends in separation after Bert’s infidelity becomes public, yet she keeps the upheaval from the children, determined to protect their sense of security.