Who wouldn't want to travel with Lesley Manville to Paris this summer?By: Christopher James
Make Lesley Manville the star of every movie. I’m serious, Hollywood. Do it. As the titular character in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, the Oscar nominated character actress brings heart, humor and gumption to her Cinderella-esque heroine. Even from the trailer alone, you can understand the type of frothy entertainment that awaits. The movie attempts to go a bit deeper at times, but it more or less lives up to what the trailer advertised. This is a light, fun time at the ovies with beautiful gowns and great performances. What takes it from a watch-on-a-plane movie to a must-see matinee is a galvanizing and endearing performance by Manville.
We find our titular character, Ada Harris (Lesley Manville), in the midst of bad news...
Her worst suspicions are confirmed: her husband has been declared dead during the war. The cheery 1950s cleaning lady has become so used to taking care of the personal problems and internalizing peccadilloes of her clients that she hardly takes a moment to process her grief. This extends to her personal life, as she tags along with the extraverted Vi (Ellen Thomas) and genially accepts the advances of Archie (Jason Isaacs). However, one look at a client’s Dior gown finally gives Ada drive and purpose. She will save all the money she can so she can wear haute couture. Deus ex machina situations compound on one another, as Ada gains and loses so many times that few accountants could balance the books on her good luck and bad luck. In the end, she’s done it. Mrs. Harris now has enough money to go to Paris and get that Christian Dior dress.
Who can blame Mrs. Harris? It's hard not to fall head over heels for something by costume designer Jenny Beavan.
Paris hardly rolls out the red carpet for the delightfully blue collar Mrs. Harris, at least at first. After spending the night in a train station around charming drunks, she makes her way to Dior, which is hosting a large fashion show. The house manager, Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert), immediately spots Mrs. Harris and dismisses her as lower class. She’s rescued by the genial Marquis de Chassagne (Lambert Wilson), who allows Mrs. Harris to be his guest to the show. Here she sets her sights on the couture dress she would like to have and begins the two week process of getting fitted for the dress.
Whatever will Mrs. Harris do in Paris for two weeks? Why befriend a wide selection of supporting characters of course! She counsels Dior bookkeeper, Andre Fauvel (Lucas Bravo), to stand up to his boss. When spending time with Natasha (Alba Baptista), a beautiful dissatisfied model, Mrs. Harris encourages her to pursue her literary passions. Of course, she tries to play matchmaker to the two young, attractive sweethearts. Everywhere she goes, everyone falls under the spell of Mrs. Harris's charms. As predictable and repetitive as it could be, director Anthony Fabian keeps everything so light on its feet that you can’t help but smile.
It also helps that the craft is top notch, particularly the costume design by Oscar winner Jenny Beavan. Every gown in Dior is more beautiful and intricate than the last, making for some wonderful fashion show sequences. Even beyond the fashion house, Beavan knows how to make sure each character’s style reveals parts of their character. Back in London, the class divide can be felt just by looking at the characters' clothes. But Beavan works harder than that. You can see, for example, how one of Mrs Harris clients, Lady Dant (Anna Chancellor) is clearly using her clothes as her last vestige to high society while her money withers away. Similarly, the struggling actress Pamela Penrose (Rose Williams) dresses well for auditions, but there is always some level of unkemptness to her, as if she’s still figuring out how to be an adult.
Isabelle Huppert is always a delight, especially as she vamps it up as the stern manager of the House of Dior.
Amidst all the fashion wish fulfillment are heaps of trash that line the streets of Paris. We can feel the stench of the metaphor from off the screen. Even as one working class woman is able to treat herself to the finer things in life after luck and savings, this purposefully exclusive world is still out of reach for many. “Out of reach” is meant figuratively, not literally. The movie makes it very clear that the wealth disparity in Paris is great, with poverty existing on the same block as couture. This is an interesting observation, but that’s all it is… an observation, barely even a comment. A few scenes do suggest a desire to tackle heftier topics around economic equality, but never work up the courage to actually do so. This muddles the overall tone, rather than enhancing it. Is the movie an attack on consumerism, or a celebration of a working class woman rocking haute couture? What we get is a little bit of both. Either the film should’ve explored its ambitions a bit more or pushed the fantasy further. I’d prefer the former, though audiences would likely have more fun with the latter.
In the end, the movie is closer to mindless fun than it is to an examination of class structures and the fashion industry. But that's hardly a detriment when there are so many charming performances throughout the halls of Dior and the pubs of London. For your money, there’s no better way to spend a Sunday matinee than marveling at Dior gowns with Lesley Manville. B
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris opens in limited release on Friday, July 15th from Focus Features.