In an effort to expand my critical writing skills, I am going to be trying out some new things on the blog in the next few weeks. This new column that I am calling La Femme Defends is a forum for defending my opinions on films that may be contrary to the popular critical response, either positive or negative. We'll see how it goes!
Love this. So glamorous!
Mommie Dearest is a camp classic, loved by the girls and the gays. Maligned as high camp and nothing more, I have gone to a Mommie Dearest Quote-a-Long and had a great time screaming and dying with laughter along with the more ridiculous lines (they even gave us wire hangers to shake, which we did, with great excitement as soon as the infamous scene began), but the more I have thought about it, the more I think Mommie Dearest is not only camp, but a film to be gently praised. I don't want to downplay the incredible watchability of the film nor the craziness of it; in fact my family watched it together at our vacation home in the San Juans and everyone howled with laughter, but the more I have watched the movie, the more I think it has merits beyond campy fun. I really don't believe in "so bad it's good." because to me if a movie is enjoyable on any level, the filmmaker must have succeeded in some other aspect, no matter how miniscule. In fact, I would argue that if a film gives you pleasure then it automatically has merit. Mommie Dearest is one of those films, its strengths go beyond the fun of the film. I wouldn't go so far to say that Mommie Dearest is a masterpiece or the best film of the 1980's but I do think its good qualities have been overshadowed by the whole No Wire Hangers shenanigans. I am here to argue, much like the great John Waters before me, that in fact Mommie Dearest is a melodrama like so many of Joan Crawford's film and that Faye Dunaway's central performance is much more nuanced than it may seem at first glance.
Matching hats, anyone?
Frank Perry directed Mommie Dearest in 1981 and the film was not meant as the camp classic it is regarded as (in fact, that may be part of the problem, I think they took the source material much too seriously in thinking they were making a FILM). Based on Christina Crawford's tell all memoir about her adopted mother, Joan Crawford; on the surface, Mommie Dearest paints Joan as the worst mother ever, an uncaring woman who adopted her two children for publicity. But it also paints her as an extremely ambitious woman in a world of men, a woman who is unable to find happiness, a perfectionist, and an ultimately tragic figure. I think the melodrama of the picture can't be denied (I don't mean this in a bad way, melodrama isn't a bad word to me) but aside from the few truly crazy scenes (see the destruction of the rose tree and the wire hanger meltdown in particular), I find the childhood Christina experiences to be harrowing and brutal. From the scene where her mother forces her to compete in a swimming to pool race, to Joan finding her impersonating her in the mirror and cutting all of Christina's hair off, to the incident that causes her to be sent to boarding school (she knowingly scares off one of her mothers suitors by bringing Joan a full glass of vodka!), the mother-daughter conflict is real and at times heartbreaking. The competition both of them feel (and that Joan has to feel because of her career) is intensely palpable and as Christina gets older that aspect becomes both more acute and bizarre. Joan is a terrible mother in a lot of ways, she pushes her children too far, expects perfection in them and has no patience, but we begin to see the same manipulation and ambition in Christina. After watching Mommie Dearest with an open mind, I honestly can't see how anyone could feel anything but extreme sympathy both for Christina and Joan. Throughout the film we see just how broken this family is and what havoc ambition, greed and power can breed.
I do this every morning.
Faye Dunaway famously won't speak of her role as Joan Crawford, which is a shame because whatever you think about her performance, I don't think you can say she didn't succeed in the role. Dunaway's performance is in the vein of big performances, which I admit I have a soft spot for. But I believe that if we are going to praise Jack Nicholson's crazy face in The Shining or Al Pacino's ridiculous accent in Scarface, Dunaway should be credited as giving the same kind of performance, part pantomime, part deeply felt emotion. Dunaway's performance is bigger than life, yes, but the character of Joan calls for that, because she is always performing for everyone else in her life. But Dunaway also gives the character some nuance. The script is definitely an example of tell instead of show and Dunaway has quite a few choice lines (some might call them clinkers) but she delivers them with an extreme level of commitment. In fact, I think the performance is actually a spot on portrayal of Crawford, she shows the rage boiling beneath the surface in every scene and how Crawford mastered the art of manipulation with every single person in her life. Unlike so many camp classics, Mommie Dearest is competently directed, in fact I would say that the biggest failing of the film is the script, which is so on the nose and expository (Good night. Good Luck. Goodbye. is one of my favorites, terrible delivery and terrible line). But director Frank Perry is not that much of a hack, in fact, some of the shots in the film are very similar to some of Crawford's most famous films and the style of the film is of a woman's film, the kind that Crawford herself starred in. The costumes are fun and the sets are actually pretty great, with some great attention to detail.
Yep, I do!
This may be my favorite HBIC moment ever
Now after three paragraphs of praise, lets get down to brass tacks about Mommie Dearest. Everything I said above is absolutely true but I also love the film because it is silly, soapy, crazy Hollywood melodrama. I love that I can go to a movie and scream "NO WIRE HANGERS" and "Don't f**k with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo" and cackle when Faye Dunaway yells "Tear down that bitch of a bearing wall and put a window where it ought to be" (or my brother and my personal favorite line, "I should have known you'd know where to find the boys and the booze"). I love that Mommie Dearest is still beloved by so many people, even if I don't always agree with their reasons. Mommie Dearest isn't a great movie, in fact, it is probably the worst that I have recommended on this blog. But there is something more to it than "its so bad, it's good". For a certain kind of person (and I include myself in this) Mommie Dearest can be a transcendent experience, giving the viewer the purest form of enteraintment that a movie can, pure pleasure. When I watch Mommie Dearest whether it is on my couch after discovering it on television on a Sunday afternoon (Sorry, K), watching it at Lopez Island with my whole family (sorry, K) or seeing it in Quote -A- Long with a bunch of fellow fans, I am able to flee any stresses I feel and spend two hours, laughing, smiling and feeling pure bliss. This is what the movies are supposed to give us, how can we say anything that gives us this feeling is bad?
Oh yeah, and I better not see any f*##ing wire hangers in my closet. EVER.
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