I have a very VERY complicated relationship with Mommie Dearest. My half-sister absolutely adores this movie for everything that Mommie Dearest truly wishes it was. Mommie Dearest truly wants to be a harrowing nightmare depiction of Joan Crawford as seen through the eyes of her abused daughter. Based on Christina Crawford’s infamous tell-all, released after Joan’s death, Mommie Dearest portrays Joan as a woman fighting the demon pressures of Hollywood and taking it out on her kids. She loses a part, and she finds a wire hanger making a dress imperfect (Joan is right, wire hangers do wreck nice clothing). She gets fired from the studio, and takes it out on her rose bushes. The constant pressure of being a single mother trying to succeed in a cutthroat industry like Hollywood drive Joan insane to the point of either not caring or not being aware of how she is acting. Mommie Dearest was a cathartic trauma movie for my half-sister who would openly weep at Joan’s tragedy, perhaps identifying with Christina based on what her stepmother was like.

And then I met the gay community, who had a completely different take on the film. Joan Crawford was, and still is, a quintessential gay icon. A person struggling to succeed because they’re faced with roadblocks simply because of how she was born: a woman. Joan could be a cutting, tough, strong woman who, eventually, would do anything for a buck (Trog), but she was always around for her fans. In Mommie Dearest, all of Joan’s flaws, as seen by my sister, amped up so far it blows out the speakers. Here was a depiction of a strong woman with all of her flaws reflected in a funhouse mirror of gigantic proportions. It was a drag performance masquerading in a straight drama. And, of course, it was so hideously amped up that the performance becomes hilarious even if it hits all too close to home.

Mommie Dearest pulls no punches. From her punishing daily cleaning routine – including boiling steam and an ice dive –  to her taking on the board of Pepsi-Cola, Faye Dunaway’s Joan Crawford is a woman who is constantly struggling between pushing herself to survive and melting down from the stress of it all. It’s, at once, tragic and ridiculous, exaggerated beyond recognition but with hints of truth hiding behind the showstopping set pieces.

Mommie Dearest streams on Amazon Prime