Film Review - Mrs Harris Goes To Paris (2022)

Close to national treasure status – her unassuming style means it’s taking longer than it should – Lesley Manville’s film career alone is impressive in its range. A CGI fairy in Maleficent, a cancer sufferer in Ordinary Love, a manipulative matriarch in Let Him Go and numerous roles for Mike Leigh are just a few, but the one that made everybody sit up and take notice was her Oscar nominated turn in Phantom Thread opposite Daniel Day Lewis. She returns to the world of haute couture this week, but in a role and a story that couldn’t be more different.

Based on a Paul Gallico novel, Mrs Harris Goes To Paris sees her play a cleaning lady in mid 50s London who, after discovering she’s a war widow and in line for a sizeable pension back payment, decides to fulfil what seems like a fanciful dream. To buy an haute couture gown from Christian Dior in Paris. It’s more elusive than she imagines: the snobbish management at Dior resists her attempts, but the sympathy of some of the staff means she’s able to choose her design and starts having fittings. It all takes longer than she expects, during which time she becomes involved in the personal lives of one of Dior’s models and the company’s accountant and, at the same time, helps the company survive going under. But does she get that gown and, more importantly, does she get to wear it?

It might not bill itself as such, but this is something of a fantasy, almost a Cinderella-style fairy story. At the same time, it reflects an escapist tone in the current batch of new releases at the cinema. Ticket To Paradise – which also has Manville’s co-star, Lucas Bravo, in the cast list – has given us Bali sunshine and sand and here we have 50s Paris with the Eiffel Tower and the streets littered with bags of rubbish because the bin men are on strike. And, yes, it is connected to the story, if somewhat tenuously. There’s more in this vein to come next month, with Sally Hawkins in search of Richard III in The Lost King.

There’s potential here for some real magic and what there is comes courtesy of Manville, who takes what could so easily be a caricature – note the headscarf styled a la Hilda Ogden but without the curlers – and makes her real, credible and sympathetic. If only the same could be said of the other significant name in the cast. Isabelle Huppert is the haughty manager at Dior, fiercely protecting the maitre from unexpected customers straight off the street. All her coolness is there, but the character seems to have come straight off the pages of a cartoon, and so does her performance. Almost as frustrating are the little inconsistencies in the film that threaten to be major distractions and hint at somebody taking their eye off the ball. When her kind heart wins out over good sense and Mrs Harris loans her dream gown to one of her clients, it’s hard to believe it was made to measure. Manville is slight and slim, yet she hands the treasured garment over to somebody much more ample – and it’s still a perfect fit!

It’s a pleasant, frothy, undemanding tale and, ultimately, a fleeting one that doesn’t stay in the memory for very long. The only exception is Manville herself and she deserves something with more substance. Or should we say more tailor made for her talents?