DIRECTOR: Anthony Fabian
CAST: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Ellen Thomas, Rose Williams, Jason Isaacs, Anna Chancellor, Christian McKay, Freddie Fox, Guilaine Londez, Philippe Bertin, Roxane Duran
RUNNING TIME: 115 mins
CERTIFICATE: PG
BASICALLY…: A working-class cleaner (Manville) becomes determined to get her own couture Dior dress…
NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
There is almost no doubt that if this exact version of Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris were actually made not long after the publication of Paul Gallico’s 1958 novel of the same name, it would have been a musical to rival that of Mary Poppins. You can certainly draw multiple parallels to the classic film, since they both share a cheery and optimistic outlook on life, with plenty of colourful and charming characters (not to mention the odd thick Cockney accent, though it goes without saying that Lesley Manville pulls it off way better than Dick Van Dyke did); all that’s missing, frankly, are the big song-and-dance numbers to truly complete the effect.
However, the film really doesn’t need to be a musical for it to work, because it’s already such a delightful and whimsically good-natured experience that is frankly impossible not to fall in love with.
Manville plays Mrs. Ava Harris, a working-class widow in 1957 London who earns her keep by cleaning the homes of her more affluent clients. One day, she notices a beautiful Dior dress in the bedroom of one client (Anna Chancellor), and instantly falls head over heels for it; she promptly decides that she must have one of her own, and upon learning of its high cost she sets out to earn as much as she can in order to travel to Paris, and purchase a frock from the House of Dior itself. Once she arrives in the French capital, however, Mrs. Harris finds her ambitions challenged by the snooty management – led by an icy, but by no means two-dimensional, Isabelle Huppert – but nonetheless manages to find some strong allies along the way, including the wealthy Marquis de Chassagne (Lambert Wilson), struggling Dior model Natasha (Alba Baptista), and the fashion house’s mild-mannered accountant André (Lucas Bravo), who are all taken aback by her boundless positivity and absolute good nature.
It all sounds simplistic and twee to a fault, and at times it can seem that way, but Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is about more than just being a pleasant and heart-warming time at the cinema. At its core is the story of a woman who gives nothing but kindness and almost always gets nothing in return, and while there are certainly some people who take advantage of that during the course of this film, it is the people whom she touches the most with her infectious spirit that repay their gratitude with the most special rewards. Like the Paddington movies and, indeed, Mary Poppins and its recent sequel, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a celebration of the goodness within people, set in an almost fairy-tale world where the heroes always win, romantic matches are made with impeccable ease, and valuable life lessons about not putting yourself too much in the favour of others are dealt to both the characters and the audience. There isn’t a cynical bone in its body, not even when it almost threatens to turn into an all-out commercial for the Dior brand (the famed House of Dior is noted as a major participant in the credits, so it’s astonishing that it isn’t as self-promotional as it possibly could have been).
The incredibly heart-felt story is matched with some handsome filmmaking, led by director Anthony Fabian (who also co-wrote the script alongside three other writers) whose vision of 1950s Paris is one that is both as pretty as it’s often made out to be in media, but also intriguingly unglamourous. The streets are littered with piled-up rubbish and fallen leaves, on account of a local binmen’s strike, and some of the Parisian interiors are a bit worse for wear than how they appear on the outside. It’s not quite the dreamy land of escapism that it’s often portrayed as, in a smart rug-pull of expectations that prove that not everything is as rosy-cheeked as the rest of the décor suggests. It is also a finely cast film; Lesley Manville is an utter joy, as is most of the likeable supporting cast, from the cutesy would-be young couple that bond over a shared interest in Jean-Paul Sartre, to the ever-reliable Jason Isaacs who pops up a few times as a kindly fellow with a thick Northern Irish accent. The real stars, though, are the Dior dresses themselves; designed by Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan (whose most recent win was for her exemplary work on last year’s Cruella), they are quite beautiful to behold, to a point where you immediately understand why the title character becomes so infatuated and even obsessed with getting one of her own. They’re fabulous dresses, enough to where you’ll also want to try one on for yourself.
It is a truly lovely movie through and through, one that has the ability to please just about everyone and leave nobody left hanging. You’ll be charmed to pieces by the wonderfully positive energy of Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, even if it never becomes the Mary Poppins-like musical it probably would have been in another timeline.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is an absolutely wonderful crowd-pleaser that celebrates human goodness and the irresistible fairy-tale story structure, which is backed up by some handsome filmmaking, spirited performances, and of course some stunning dresses that you won’t be able to take your eyes off of.
