‘Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris’ Is a Frothy, Gorgeous Fairy Tale
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a wonderful, feel-good movie, blessed with a strong British and French cast and careful direction by Tony Fabian, who wrote the script with Carroll Cartwright, Keith Thompson, and Olivia Hetreed. It's based on the novel by Paul Gallico. Costume design is by Jenny Beavan, responsible for her work in many of our favorite historical dramas and to whom Dior gave access to their archives to create the amazing gowns that play leading roles in this movie. However, Lesley Manville is the star of this lovely film.
If you weren't convinced before by Manville's previous performances (Mum, World on Fire, Phantom Thread), this film might do it. She plays Mrs. Harris, a middle-aged, working-class woman who meets life's challenges in post-war London with courage, tenacity, and smarts. She's kind but not a pushover and possessed of a sharp tongue. For over a decade, she's waited for her beloved husband Eddie to come home from war, knowing deep down that he won't. She's a cleaning lady whose clients include a bowler-hatted gent she meets on the stairs to his apartment, with a different "niece" on his arm every morning.
From ditsy actor Pamela Penrose (Rose Williams) to Lady Dant, played by Anna Chancellor (Lady Latchmere in Hotel Portofino) in the sort of role she can do standing on her head, the women parade by. Lady Dant, wealthy and privileged, somehow never has the correct change to pay her cleaner. In her wardrobe is a glorious, sparkly Dior gown. "When I put it on, nothing else matters," Lady Dant tells Mrs. Harris and then mentions the price. "Five hundred pounds for a frock!" Mrs. Harris responds, her voice rising in a shocked squeak. But she's in love. She wants that glamour, unattainable beauty, as strongly as she believes that Eddie will come home one day.
