When melodrama gets pushed over the top and into the absurd

When a decent 90-minute melodrama is drawn out to six hours over 5 episodes, or "parts," if you will, the effect can be the opposite of what the director intended: instead of increasing the intensity of the drama and the feelings, the longer form attenuates the drama and threatens to push over the top and into the realm of the absurd. Case in point: Todd Haynes's ambitious "Mildred Pierce," which has some things going for it: a nicely captured look of the 1930s, great acting from Kate Winslet. But beyond that - there's hardly a scene that isn't drawn out too long as we watch the rise and fall of Mildred through many, many long takes - as she goes from impoverished divorcee with two daughters and strong but pent passions and on into entrepreneurial business-woman, grieving mother, passionate lover, aspiring socialite, stage mom - and then the downfall, falling for the wrong guy, stupid business decisions to keep up lavish lifestyle, and most of all attempt to dominate her daughter's life, which drives her daughter away and ultimately into completely destructive relationship - all this works more of less when the movie (as the 1945 version did) has a head-long pace but when the pace is slow enough for us to think about all these improbable and overblown twists and turns - e.g., could her daughter at age 20, with no training, suddenly be discovered as an opera star and give sold-out performances at the Philharmonic? - the miniseries kind of breaks apart at the seams. Haynes has some talent obviously and a feel for the retro - I really like Far From Heaven - but he also has a weakness for self-indulgence (e.g., I'm Not There - a movie I was dying to love and couldn't get my mind around), and I hope his next work is less of more.