Mommie Dearest

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Frank Perry directs. Paul Lohmann behind the camera. Henry Mancini scores. Peter E. Berger cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Made its money back 3.8× over at the box office.
• 245 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 3Directed by Frank Perry, shot by Paul Lohmann. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Henry Mancini. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Peter E. Berger shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Faye Dunaway and Diana Scarwid and Steve Forrest carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "Faye Dunaway is Joan Crawford. A star...a legend...and a mother...the illusion of perfection.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt0082766 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 9Classified under 15 themes, including "child abuse", "adoption", "biography", "sociopath".

The technical file

Cinematography

Paul Lohmann

Original score

Henry Mancini

Editing

Peter E. Berger

Production design

Bill Malley

Costume design

Irene Sharaff

Makeup / hair

Kathryn Blondell

Runtime

129 min · 2h 9m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$5,000,000

Box office

$19,032,261

Return

381% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Mommie Dearest (1981) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

50% 🥫 Rotten

Metacritic

55/100

IMDB rating

6.7/10 · 19,561 votes

MPAA

R

Also by

Frank Perry

• 
  Dummy

  1979 · ★ 8.8
• 
  The Swimmer

  1968 · ★ 7.3
• 
  David and Lisa

  1962 · ★ 7.2
• 
  The Thanksgiving Visitor

  1968 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Ladybug Ladybug

  1963 · ★ 6.9
• 
  ABC Stage 67

  1966 · ★ 6.8

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Mommie Dearest (1981) Trailer

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  Mommie Dearest Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2021-10-03
  ★ 8/10

  Surprisingly good, sometimes great, and more balanced than its reputation The life of Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) is detailed from 1939, when her career was on a downswing, to her death in 1977, focusing on her rivalrous relationship with her adopted daughter Christina (Mara Hobel & Diana Scarwid). “Mommie Dearest” (1981) is a ‘controversial’ drama because it dares to reveal the hidden truth about a member of Hollywood royalty, at least according to her first two adopted kids, Christina and Christopher, who have stuck to their guns in the decades since. Sure, the younger twin sisters, Cindy & Cathy, dispute the claims of gross abuse (while admitting Joan was strict), but they were only 3 years-old when Christina was 11 and so weren’t present or were simply too young to know what went down with Christina & Christopher. Another thing to consider is that Joan learned a few lessons on parenting in raising the two older kids and therefore was wiser with her treatment of Cindy & Cathy. The movie is neither campy nor an “unintentional comedy.” This is a dramatic biopic of the final 38 years of Joan’s life with concentration on the 40s-50s. It’s a great behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood of that period. The viewer becomes privy to Joan’s struggles with romance, maintaining success in a challenging career, aging, finances, male chauvinism and… childrearing. While Gene Siskel gave the movie a fair 2.5/4 rating, both he and Ebert complained that the picture was too depressing, but that is a one-dimensional perspective. Yes, the abusive episodes aren’t fun, but there are only two really bad ones, the wire hanger and the choking sequences. In other words, there’s WAY more to this movie than Joan being an abusive monster. Speaking of which, the flick is surprisingly evenhanded with the "Queen of the Movies.” It shows the good, the bad and the ugly, NOT just the ugly. Near the end of the story it’s clear that there was some genuine warmth and care in Christina’s relationship with Joan. The ending, however, put the final nail in the coffin (which I’m not going to reveal, even though it’s historically documented). Yet the film makes it clear that Joan believed in self-made success because she felt it created character as opposed to everything being handed to the individual. So perhaps in her mind she believed she was doing both Christina & Christopher a favor because she believed they had the talent & aptitude to make it in life just fine without any further help from her. Some critics, including Siskel & Ebert, claimed that the movie didn’t explain Joan’s abusive tendencies with Christina (and Christopher), but it does for anyone who opens their eyes. She was a control-freak and perfectionist, not to mention she clearly developed a spirit of competition with Christina, as observed in the pool scene and, later, the soap opera episode. Faye blamed the director for not reining her in during the two extreme scenes of mistreatment but, while these may or may not be slightly overdone, ALL biopics exaggerate things for dramatic purposes. For instance, do you think for a second that, in “Braveheart” (1995), William Wallace really trotted into a Baron’s bedchambers on a freakin’ horse for a confrontation and was easily able to escape on the horse? That said, I found those two maniacal scenes thoroughly believable. In fact, from my experience these kinds of hysterical incidents happen in practically EVERY family on occasion, hopefully very infrequently (just like in the film). For instance, I’ve had a few shameful meltdowns over the years that I wouldn’t care to elaborate on, how much more so a passionate actress juggling the demands of a Hollywood career and everything that goes with it? Speaking of Dunaway’s performance, she was perfect for the role and shouldn’t be embarrassed by this movie in the least. Critic Pauline Kael rightly emphasized that she gave "a startling, ferocious performance." Furthermore, the movie was a deserved financial hit at the box office and continues to make money decades later as a cult phenomenon. Unfortunately for Faye, it was considered blasphemous to honestly criticize such an icon as Joan Crawford. Evidently people can’t handle the truth. The film runs 2 hours, 9 minutes, and was shot entirely in the Greater Los Angeles area. GRADE: A-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Paramount Pictures

  US

• TH

  The Irwin Yablans Company

  US

Key crew

• ProducerIrwin Yablans
• BookChristina Crawford
• Executive ProducerTerry O'Neill
• Associate ProducerNeil Machlis
• Executive ProducerDavid Koontz
• CastingNancy Klopper
• CastingLynn Stalmaster
• Production DesignBill Malley
• Art DirectionHarold Michelson
• Set DecorationRichard C. Goddard
• Costume DesignIrene Sharaff
• HairstylistKathryn Blondell
• Unit Production ManagerNeil Machlis
• WigmakerClaude Díaz
• Makeup ArtistLee Harman
• Makeup ArtistCharles H. Schram
• HairstylistVivienne Walker
• HairdresserSylvia Nava
• EditorPeter E. Berger

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• child abuse
• adoption
• biography
• sociopath
• lawyer
• hollywood
• mansion
• docudrama
• campy
• perfection
• mother daughter estrangement
• adopted child
• mother daughter relationship
• ax
• controlling parent

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)1981-09-16
• Theatrical1981-09-18PG· Originally rated R
• Physical2021-06-01