Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Vi Butterfield

Lesley Manville is clearly having some good fun playing the eponymous, widowed, wartime cleaner. One of her clients, "Lady Dant" (Anna Chancellor) is not so hot when it comes to settling her bills, but she does have a Dior dress - and at £500 this is a dream for "Mrs. Harris". Determined to have one for herself, she works extra hard, saves her pension - even has a flutter on the dogs before arriving at the Salon Dior armed with rolled up ten shilling notes. The slightly snobbish staff want little to do with her, but fortunately the debonaire "Marquis de Chassagne" (Lambert Wilson) agrees to take her in to the show as his guest, and finance fellow "André" points out to the rather snooty manager "Claudine" (Isabelle Huppert) that the cash is not to be sniffed at... What now ensues are some fun escapades as she manages to acquire a dream frock, but has to linger in Paris whilst it is made-to-measure for her. This exposes her to the benign charms of the Marquis and also sees her make new friends and have some once-in-a-lifetime experiences. It's flighty and fun, peppered with a good dose of British fair-play and pragmatism, and features a script that is delivered effortlessly by a cast that all combine well on screen. The ending is a touch contrived, but this is a feel-good film that does warm the cockles of your heart a bit and illustrates the birth of large scale high street couture.