Veda\u2019s story unfolds in \u201cMildred Pierce,\u201d the classic James M. Cain novel and 1945 Joan Crawford film.<\/p>\n
The movie is an apex of film noir, filled with dark shadows, moody lighting and ominous swaying palm trees. But it is also a memorable \u2014 and much analyzed \u2014 meditation on class in the American century.<\/p>\n
We meet the Pierces as Mildred is struggling to make ends meet. Her husband can\u2019t hold a job, so she starts baking cakes. She eventually gets a job as a waitress at a downtown L.A. coffee shop, but keeps it a secret for fear Veda will judge her. She eventually scores her own American dream, opening a chain of restaurants with locations in Beverly Hills, Laguna Beach, Glendale and beyond.<\/p>\n
![\"Ann](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782761303_615_.jpeg\")
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Ann Blyth in 2013.<\/p>\n
(Frederick M. Brown \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But Veda has zero admiration for Mildred\u2019s rapid upward mobility, striking the pose of a blue blood who looks down on hard work. Veda loves to torture Mildred about being a middle-class striver, denigrating her mother\u2019s work ethic: \u201cI\u2019m really not surprised. You\u2019ve never spoken of your people \u2014 who you came from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veda\u2019s behavior worsens, including a fake pregnancy with a son of L.A. old money, until the epic showdown. Her monologue manages to be both a diss to her mother and to the city that gifted her so much success.<\/p>\n
She tells Mildred she can\u2019t wait to get away \u201cfrom you and your chickens and your pies and your kitchens and everything that smells of grease. I can get away from this shack with its cheap furniture \u2014 and this town and its dollar days, and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veda\u2019s conflicts with Mildred feel like the beginning of what would become the generation gap between the kids born into the plenty of American post-war life and their hardworking parents. At one point, Veda rejects Mildred\u2019s overtures with a line that could be dialogue from a 1960s melodrama about teenage rebellion: \u201cYou still don\u2019t understand, do you? You think new curtains are enough to make me happy. No, I want more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ann](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782761304_57_.jpeg\")
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Ann Blyth as Veda and Joan Crawford as Mildred.<\/p>\n
(Miramax Films)<\/p>\n
But Veda is no idealist out to end wars or reject her parents\u2019 materialism. <\/p>\n
\u201cMildred Pierce,\u201d the movie, was released just after the end of World War II, so it\u2019s easy to see it as an early commentary on post-war life. But Cain published his book in 1941. Critic David L. Ulin <\/a>wrote Mildred\u2019s struggles and sacrifices feel more anchored in the boom-bust L.A. between the wars.<\/p>\n Veda\u2019s evil can also feel anachronistic, especially in today\u2019s world of nepo-baby jokes, \u201cimmigrants get it done!\u201d and reverence of rags-to-riches stories. But it remains a relevant morality tale \u2014 of the rot that comes with coveting all of L.A.\u2019s beautiful things and the pitfalls of parenting by giving your children all the material things you lacked. <\/p>\n I challenge you to watch the movie today and not place her up there with all-time L.A. movie villains, sharing the stage with Noah Cross<\/a>, Keyser S\u00f6ze,<\/a> Hans Gruber <\/a>and … Joan Crawford.<\/a> <\/p>\n