Mildred Pierce is a five-part miniseries that first aired on HBO on March 27, 2011. Adapted from James M. Cain's 1941 novel, it was directed by Todd Haynes, and starred Kate Winslet in the title role, alongside Guy Pearce, Evan Rachel Wood, and Melissa Leo. Carter Burwell wrote the original score for the miniseries. It is the second adaptation of the novel, after the 1945 film noir produced by Warner Bros. and starring Joan Crawford. Mildred Pierce depicts an overprotective, self-sacrificing mother during the Great Depression who finds herself separated from her husband, opening a restaurant... of her own and falling in love with a new man, all the while trying to earn her narcissistic daughter's love and respect. The miniseries follows Cain's original novel exactly, dramatizing nearly every scene and dispensing with the murder subplot which was added for the 1945 film. The dialogue is almost entirely taken word-for-word from the novel. Parts of the miniseries were filmed in three New York locations: Peekskill, Point Lookout and Merrick. Mildred Pierce received generally favorable reviews.
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