Susan Granger’s review of “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (Focus Features)
What an unexpected delight! Touted as “House of Gucci” for nice people, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” follows the adventures of effervescent Ada Harris (Lesley Manville), a widowed British housekeeper who dreams of buying her own Christian Dior gown.
In the years after W.W.II, plucky Mrs. Harris barely makes a living cleaning people’s houses and hanging out with her best friend/neighbor (Ellen Thomas) and a roguish bookmaker (Jason Isaac). So when good luck finally shines on her, delivering a windfall of cash, she sets off for Avenue Montaigne in Paris.
In 1957, Christian Dior, who launched his haute couture line in 1947, was celebrating his 10th anniversary collection, featuring sumptuous, wasp-waisted, full-skirted dresses. On arriving at Dior’s atelier, Mrs. Harris instinctively helps Natasha (Alba Baptista), a model who trips and falls, retrieving her handbag and earning her gratitude.
Then when dowdy-looking Mrs. Harris is abruptly dismissed by Dior’s imperious vendeuse Madame Colbert (Isabelle Huppert), she’s ‘rescued’ by a charming widower, Marquis de Chassange (Lambert Wilson), who invites her to attend the runway show as his guest.
Viewing one exquisite frock after another, Mrs. Harris falls in love – with a glamorous gown she cannot have. So she chooses another and – after being offered lodging in Montmartre by Dior’s shy accountant Andre Fauvel (Lucas Bravo) – duly reports for daily fittings while befriending the hard-working seamstresses and openly campaigning for workplace justice.
Paul Gallico’s 1958 best-seller was previously made into a forgettable 1992 TV movie, starring Angela Lansbury and Diana Rigg. But this version of Gallico’s feel-good fantasy, adapted by Carroll Cartwright, Olivia Hetreed, Keith Thompson and director Anthony Fabian, is a confectionary delight, a fashionable feast for the eyes.
While the House of Dior lent five opulent outfits from its heritage collection, three-time Oscar-winning designer Jenny Beavan and her costume-makers John Bright and Jane Law, dutifully recreated the vintage Dior look.
FYI: If Lesley Manville looks familiar, perhaps you remember her Oscar-nominated performance as cynical Cyril in 2017’s “Phantom Thread.” Manville’s next role is Princess Margaret in “The Crown.”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” is an elegant, endearing, escapist 8, playing in theaters.
