Mommie Dearest (1981)

Based on the scathing tell- all memoir of the same name, Mommie Dearest is the story of Joan Crawford's life 'behind the scenes' told from the perspective of her adopted daughter Christine. For the record, I haven't read the memoir, nor have I done any extensive research on Joan Crawford. My experience of this family is based solely on this film.

The story begins with a successful Crawford wishing she had a child of her own. She has a partner of sorts, a lawyer, and is established in her career, but she is unable to have children and therefore wants to adopt. At first the orphanages will not give her a child because of her somewhat notorious past. Ever persistent, she has her lawyer friend pull some strings and she receives a baby girl, who she names Christina. In the film, Crawford displayed a minor case of OCD and would personally get down on her knees and scrub her floors, even though she had several capable maids. In fact she would closely inspect her maid's work after she had finished to make sure it was done to her satisfaction. This, combined with the fact that her life was always under the eye of the press and the pressures of the film industry, created a sort of bipolar woman who would violently explode arbitrarily depending on her mood. Of course it was her daughter Christina who was made to suffer this. As Christina grew up her mother went from physically and emotionally bullying her, to sending her away to boarding school, to kicking her out of the house without a penny. When she died, Joan disinherits both her and her brother, and Christina ends foreshadowing the writing of her memoir.

This story had enormous potential to be disturbing and terrifying. The clip I saw that made me want to watch the film had Faye Dunaway (Crawford) maniacally chopping off her daughter's hair after seeing her play-act in a mirror. With the right stuff, that can be psychologically messed up, but unfortunately Dunaway was the only one who stepped up to the plate. Watching this movie was like watching a small child whining 'it's not fair' over and over again. Maybe Dunaway's acting was just too good and she was acting with inexperienced or poor actors, but I felt like every time Christina was mistreated by her mother she was faking her pain. I almost wanted bad things to happen to her because she was ruining what would otherwise have been a wonderful film... even when the actors switched. It felt like the actors playing Christina were trying too hard to be the sweet and innocent victim, while at the same time tried display a spiteful rebelliousness that wouldn't have been found in the innocent girl, and would have evolved into an all out rebellion in anyone who was truly discontented with their situation. So I didn't believe her pain at all and at the end of the movie was happy that her mother left her with nothing... taking my frustration with the actor out on the character.

But Dunaway's performance was amazing. In my opinion she carried this movie on her back. She created the perfect combination of insane, power-hungry actress and caring mother. She was fascinating to watch and for her alone would I recommend that anyone watch this movie.