TV Pick of the week: Mildred Pierce

Evan Rachel Wood (left) and Kate Winslet in the Depression-era saga. Photo / Supplied

This mini-series which won Kate Winslet an Emmy in the title role, is an adaptation of the 1941 James M. Cain novel.

It has only a nodding acquaintance with the 1945 film noir, a murder whodunnit that brought its star, Joan Crawford, a best actress Oscar.

The five-part HBO adaptation is an unhurried period piece that puts the viewer in Depression-era suburban Los Angeles, and into the complicated world of its hero.

But even as it inhabits a long-ago time and place, it also seems to dovetail with the present. Leafy Glendale of 1931 is no dustbowl, but like the rest of the United States it has been slammed by an economic crisis that resonates with the present day.

Mildred's plight is magnified: She is suddenly divorced and forced to find work to support herself and her two young daughters.

Ambitious and resourceful, Mildred will do that and then some: she builds a restaurant empire.

But during a saga stretching nearly a decade, Mildred, despite her business successes, will face class stigma and a stormy relationship with her precocious, social-climbing daughter, Veda (played by Evan Rachel Wood in adulthood).

She will also confront her sexual self, exploring "aspects of herself she never knew existed", in the words of Todd Haynes, who directed the mini-series and co-wrote the script. Haynes calls this Mildred Pierce "an intensely faithful adaptation of the novel".

Winslet, no stranger to period pieces, excels as Mildred, who is on-screen nearly every scene, going through many changes and the pressures that propel them.

Also starring are Melissa Leo, James Le Gros, and Wood.

Guy Pearce, also an Emmy winner for his work here, shines in a pivotal supporting role as dashing man-about-town Monty Beragon, with whom Mildred shares impulsive romance, then much more.

In Mildred Pierce, he sports a devil-may-care attitude as Monty, who sweeps Mildred off her feet at the end of episode two. He re-enters her life years later, in episode five. Fans of the original film will remember Monty (Zachary Scott) as the victim of a shooting that frames the film's murder mystery.

This time, Monty is never at risk. He's there as a counterpoint to Mildred.

"Monty has been brought up with almost a religious belief that money is never a problem and it's always there, whereas Mildred is a working-class lady and a survivor," Pearce says.

"For her, it's all about responsibility. For Monty, it's not about responsibility at all."

When: Fridays, 8.30pm
Where: SoHo, Sky
What: Depression era saga revisited

-TimeOut / AP