Summary
When Mr. Beragon says he is not interested in selling the house to Mildred, she protests and tells him she's thought of every detail to ensure he will get his money back. "I know I can do it," she says, and the earnestness of her tone convinces Mr. Beragon.
As Wally and Mildred drive away from Beragon's, Wally tells her she's going to have to get a divorce in order to open up a restaurant. He tells her that California has a Community Property Law that specifies that whatever Mildred owns will partially belong to Bert, so in order to ensure that the business is hers alone, she will have to get a divorce from him. Mildred realizes it will take a year to get a divorce and seems discouraged, saying she'll think about it and talk to Bert about it when he picks up the children the following week. "There's nothing to think about! No divorce, no restaurant!" says Wally.
Back at Mildred's house, we see her discussing the possibility of a divorce with Bert. Bert is not so sure about it, when suddenly they are interrupted by Kay who asks on Veda's behalf where Veda's new bathing suit is. Kay coughs and fetches Veda her bathing suit, as Veda wonders if there will be any boys up at Arrowhead, where they are traveling with their father.
Down in the living room, Mildred insists that they have to get a divorce in order to think of what's best for the girls. Bert points out that Mildred spends all of her time worrying about pleasing Veda, even though Kay is a much nicer child and genuinely loves her mother. Mildred realizes that Veda is not thankful for her mother's special treatment, but this does nothing to deter her from wanting a divorce. Bert wants to know more about the business deal with Wally, insisting that Mildred is his "wife" and he deserves to know. "I've put everything I've got into this new restaurant!" says Mildred, pleading with her husband. When he refuses the divorce, she tells him that she plans to file papers whether he likes it or not. As he threatens to fight her on the divorce, they are interrupted by Kay and Veda coming downstairs. The girls leave with their father, and Mildred watches them go from the door frame.
The scene shifts and we see Mildred sitting on a ladder working on the new restaurant. Monte Beragon comes in and tells her he's there to check on his investment, but he seems more interested in flirting with Mildred. As Mildred gives him a tour, Beragon insists that it's a holiday and she ought to come down to his beach house to look at the ocean. She tells him she has too much work to do, but he presses her, insisting that she come over. When she says no yet again, he kisses her abruptly and she agrees.
At Beragon's, he shows Mildred to a closet full of bathing suits, all of which he says belong to his sister. When he asks her how she'd like her drink, Mildred says, "Harmless." Outside, Mildred comes out in a robe, and Beragon tells her about his family home in Pasadena and makes suggestive comments, before pulling off her robe. The two of them run and jump into the ocean.
Later, Mildred and Beragon sit inside the house next to the fire and Beragon has another drink. Mildred asks him what the ethnic origin of his name is, and he tells her it's Spanish with a little Italian, but that his mother is a "real dyed-in-the-wool Yankee." She asks him what he does, and he tells her he loafs, then offers to read her palm, before launching into a romantic monologue, which seems to charm Mildred. "You take my breath away," he says, and Mildred says she returns his affections. As they begin to kiss, the record comes to the end of its side, and Mildred tells Beragon to fix it, but he continues to kiss her.
The scene shifts and we see Bert at Mildred's home on the phone, just as Monte is dropping Mildred off. The lovers smile at each other and Mildred walks up the walkway in the rain, where Bert intercepts her and questions her about where she's been. He tells her Kay has pneumonia and is at Maggie Biederhof's, and they get in his car and drive to see Kay.
We see everyone gathered around a bed with a doctor. Kay calls for her mother, as the doctor instructs the nurse to give Kay more oxygen. Despite the doctor's best efforts, he cannot save Kay and she dies. Mildred runs to Kay's side and sobs, as the doctor apologizes for not being able to do more. In the next room, Veda cries into her mother's lap as Maggie goes to make Mildred a cup of tea. "Oh, I loved her so much," says Mildred as Veda cries, before adding, "Oh please God, don't ever let anything happen to Veda."
The scene shifts and we see the opening of Mildred's restaurant, aptly named "Mildred's," as she narrates in voiceover that after Kay's death she became intent on making the restaurant a success. We see Mildred in the restaurant, seating customers, as Ida, from Mildred's waitressing job, helps behind the counter. "I don't know what I would have done without you," Mildred says to Ida, to which Ida replies, "Probably have a nervous breakdown."
In a nearby booth, Veda sits with Wally. After Veda compliments her mother on the restaurant, Wally pulls Mildred aside to tell her that Bert is coming by the restaurant that evening, maybe to talk about the divorce.
Mildred and Wally go into the kitchen, where Mildred puts an apron on him and tells him to help with the potatoes. Just then, Beragon arrives at the restaurant and Wally infers from Mildred's response that they've been spending some time together. In the lobby, Beragon hands Ida some orchids to give to Mildred, and Ida delivers them to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Beragon sits down at Veda's table mistakenly while she is standing up. When she comes back, she greets him warmly and tells him she knows exactly who he is. When she goes to introduce herself, he stops her and reads her palm, revealing that he knows exactly who she is. Wally comes over and sits down, trying to make Beragon another business proposition, but Beragon stops him to make a toast to their success with the restaurant.
Later, as they are closing up the restaurant, Beragon and Veda dance to music on the jukebox. Mildred and Ida laugh about their success. Mildred comes over to asks Wally to take Veda home, and Wally and Veda leave, begrudgingly.
When Beragon compliments Veda to Mildred and asks if she has another daughter, Mildred looks saddened and tells him that Kay died. "You've had your tough breaks, but you're going to make a go of it now," he says, comforting her with thoughts of her restaurant being successful. As she looks over the books for the restaurant, Beragon chides her for working too much and kisses her neck. As the two of them kiss, Bert walks into the restaurant, slamming the door behind him.
Mildred rushes over to him anxiously and introduces him to Beragon, before Bert asks to have a private word with Mildred. He tells her that while he doubted her ability to make a living on her own, he sees now that she's doing fine, and he is open to getting a divorce. "I never thought it would end like this," she says, and they apologize to each other. Hearing their conversation, Beragon comes over with drinks for everyone, and says, "In the Beragon family, there is an old Spanish proverb: one man's poison is another man's meat." Hearing this, Bert knocks the drink out of Beragon's hand and leaves the restaurant abruptly.
Analysis
Matters get all the more complicated when Wally informs Mildred that she'll have to get an official divorce from Bert if she wants to open the restaurant. Presented with this roadblock, Mildred begins to have doubts about her separation from Bert, telling Wally she'll "think about it," in spite of his insistence that there's nothing to think about. When she faces the reality of her divorce from her husband measured against her desire to be an independent business owner, Mildred is less sure than she had believed herself to be. The weight of her decision to separate from her husband and strike out on her own begins to trouble her.
The central weight hanging over Mildred Pierce is her desire to please her seemingly un-please-able daughter, Veda. As Bert points out, Mildred works so hard to take care of Veda, even though Kay is much more loving and deserves more of her mother's attention. "Maybe that's why I keep trying to please Veda," Mildred says when Bert points out what a spoiled girl Veda is, sure in her conviction that earning Veda's appreciation matters more than anything. It is this single-mindedness that makes Mildred something of a tragic heroine; while she fights to provide for her family and is admirably self-sacrificing, she constantly finds herself in a thankless cycle, in which nothing she does for her daughter is ever appreciated.
After kicking Bert out of the house, Mildred must not only contend with the question of how to make money, but with a world in which nearly every interested man sees her as an easy romantic target. First, Wally is exceedingly aggressive when it comes to trying to seduce the single woman. Then, when she is refurbishing the restaurant, Beragon interrupts her and wants to bring her out to his beach house for a swim. Mildred Pierce shows that the life of a single woman is complex for a myriad of reasons; not only must the single woman find ways to provide for her family when the husband cannot, but she must stave off unwanted advances with charm and agreeableness.
Despite his somewhat tunnel-visioned pursuit of her, Beragon manages to win over Mildred, and the two of them begin a torrid love affair. She seems somewhat exhausted by his persistence, yet at the end of their day together, Mildred realizes that Beragon's attention makes her feel wanted and "warm." In seemingly no time at all, Mildred's investor has turned into her lover, and the two of them are kissing in front of the fire as the record crackles at its end nearby. For the first time in the film, Mildred is shown not sacrificing for others, but accepting the affection of someone else.
Horribly enough, just as things seem to start looking up for Mildred, a terrible tragedy occurs when she returns from her evening with Beragon and discovers that Kay is sick with pneumonia. After a brief moment in a room at Maggie Biederhof's, Kay dies, and Mildred's world is shattered, just as everything seemed like it was going to be alright. The tragedy of the event is heightened even more by the previous scene in which Bert tells Mildred she does not show enough love to Kay. Mildred must contend not only with the death of her young child, but a sense that she could have done more to help her.
