Lesley Manville leads an impressive cast in this wonderfully sweet film about a cleaner from London who fulfills a dream of traveling to Paris to buy a beautiful Christian Dior dress.
A wonderfully told film, full of breathtaking period visuals presented by Felix Wiedemann’s beautiful cinematography, the story quickly reeling in the viewer with its simple, if often predictable narrative arc, so joyously told through solid directing and an incredible cast.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Paul Gallico, the film finds Ada Harris working in townhouses of the prosperous on the streets of London in 1957. Jumping from property to property, Ada soon receives bad, if not unexpected news of her beloved husband who disappeared towards the end of the second world war. A series of events follow that sees Ada have an influx of cash, not least winning the football pools, so with the money, she decides to fulfill a dream of heading to Paris to buy a custom-made dress from the rails of glamorous designer Christian Dior.
What follows is a truly beautiful story of a woman pursuing her dreams no matter what odds are stacked against her.
I had a great time with this movie. Far from perfect; as I said, the film is hugely predictable and you could almost map out the story before you press play, but that matters not a jot as it is so beautifully told and played that you have no choice but to fall from it.
The production values are excellent, and its cast is marvelous. Manville commands the screen from the off, and that character that she has brought to life is so very endearing from beginning to end. It’s also great to see Isabelle Huppert having a great time with the material as the fashion house boss with her own issues going on behind the scenes; the ‘antagonist of the piece ‘ (though Huppert plays it far from the panto villain) who very much sees similarities with an unlikely visitor to her very precious House of Dior.
Think Mary Poppins meets The Devil Wears Prada – a great ‘Sunday afternoon movie’ that’ll please audiences of all ages.
Bonus features on the disc are limited to a five-minute(ish) gag reel and some deleted/ extended scenes.
A decent DVD release though sad not to have the option of buying the film on Blu-ray. HD enthusiasts will have to opt for the digital download version.
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris
Summary
A great family movie devoid of threat – just a really lovely film to a wonderful message at its heart – and it has a VERY big heart.
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris is now available on DVD and digital download.
