Rated: PG
Directed by: Anthony Fabian
Based on the Novel by: Paul Gallico
Screenplay by: Carroll Cartwright, Anthony Fabian, Keith Thompson, Olivia Hetreed
Produced by: Xavier Marchand, Guillaume Benski, Anthony Fabian
Starring: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Jason Isaacs, Anna Chancellor, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Rose Williams.
To make the invisible, visible.
It’s 1957 London – it’s foggy. Mrs. Harris (Lesley Manville) holds a package.
‘What’s it to be Eddy?’ She asks of the package, of her husband who’s been missing since 1944. ‘Good news? Or bad news?’
It doesn’t matter what a flip of a coin will determine. Mrs. Harris will always want to believe in the good.
One of her clients she cleans for, a want-to-be actress named Pamela Penrose (Rose Williams) tells her,’ You’re an angel. What would I do without you?’
Mrs. Harris wants for nothing; and puts up with a lot. She spends her time with best friend, Vi (Ellen Thomas), whom she met while building planes during the war.
Then while cleaning for Lady Dant (Anna Chancellor), Mrs. Harris sees it. The dress. The camera focusses on her face of wonder, the world around her a blur as she takes the lilac dress, handling the beading, her face glowing. It’s a Christian Dior, Lady Dant explains. ‘When I put it on, nothing else matters.’
Mrs. Harris dreams.
Then when life seems like it’s never going to get any better, she wins the Pools. That’s when she decides she does want something: she wants a Christian Dior dress, from Paris, for 500 quid.
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris is superficially a lighthearted tale, showing the very best of human nature, while also exploring Sartre’s philosophy of existentialism in, Being and Nothingness (1943).
The theme of perception and nothingness is introduced when Mrs. Harris meets French model, Natasha (Alba Baptista) who’s found to be reading Sartre, who also wants to be seen, not in a wonderful Christian Dress, but as someone more than a pretty face. It’s that invisible being made visible thread that drives the film so yes, it’s about a woman wanting a beautiful dress but more than that, she deserves to be seen.
And the Parisians take Mrs. Harris and her down-to-earth humour and niceness and honesty into their hearts.
Because she’s a wonder, with cash to spend on a Haute Couture dress.
They love her for it.
She’s reminded, ‘Remember in France, the Worker is King.’
All except the manageress of the House of Christian Dior, Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) who resists the indelible Mrs. Harris.
Dior is exclusive.
There had to be some challenge to the story of the English cleaner who charms her way into the exclusive House.
I admit I got teary at times, mostly when Mrs. Harris was misunderstood or not seen, for being too nice but then to be understood, to bring the lightness up again; the film’s about an intelligent, honest and kind woman wanting to feel beautiful, to be acknowledged. And that always strikes a chord.
Yes, it’s a little frothy, the wonder in Mrs. Harris’s face as she swoons at the Dior dresses, but the dresses are beautiful and there’s a consistent dry humour that balances the sweetness.
This is a delightful watch with some thought-provoking moments if you’re looking for it, that lifts.