Directed by Anthony Fabian
Starring Lesley Manville, Ellen Thomas, Jason Isaacs, Isabelle Huppert, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Lambert Wilson, Rose Williams, and Anna Chancellor

Mrs. Harris, or should I say Mrs ‘Arris, may very well be on her way to becoming the next Dior patron, but she is certainly no new customer to the movie industry.

This is the third adaptation and first theatrically released version of the 1958 novel Mrs ‘Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico after a one-hour made for television drama produced that same year and a feature-length TV movie in 1992 starring the late and great Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Harris.

Set in London in 1957, Mrs. Ada Harris (Lesley Manville) is in need of something to lift her spirits after recently becoming widowed. While cleaning the luxurious home of an affluent client, Mrs. Harris lays eyes upon and instantly falls in love with a Dior dress. Despite the financial limitations that come with being a middle-aged maid living on her own, Ada may live little but she’s about to dream big. Unfortunately, her ingrained and resolute kindness is often taken advantage of, but thankfully karma continually rewards her generosity and finds a way to flip her financial affairs and fly her over to the French capital to buy that frock.

First, there is time to take-in and be dazzled by several landmarks that only Paris has to offer. Once Mrs. Harris steps foot into the world of Parisian high fashion, she rapidly discovers that not a single challenging client back at home can prepare her for the haunting of the haute couture coming her way!

 Nevertheless, just as good fortune keeps coming the way of the titular character, so too do the feel-good and crowd-pleasing charms of the film. In fact, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is guaranteed to be as safe, pleasant and delightful an experience as high tea on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It does, however, get as carried away with proceedings as I do at a buffet restaurant. Mrs. Harris has visited Dior at a time of financial hardship and internal division, but also a time for the fashion house to swallow its pride and make some customer-based adjustments. Clearly, the writers know as we do there is no better person to inspire such change than our very own Mrs H, and so they have her attend to every department at Dior HQ as breezily as performing a spring-clean. 

Until now, I’ve mostly seen Lesley Manville flawlessly portraying characters with a colder demeanour and tough exterior. Her Oscar-nominated work in the best movie of 2018, Phantom Thread and the more recent Let Him Go come to mind. Not someone I would have chosen for this role, she absolutely nails all her character’s reactions and is a major reason for the film’s everlasting joyful vibe. A Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a motion picture comedy or musical category is surely forthcoming. Having said that, Emma Thompson for Good Luck To You, Leo Grande will be almost impossible to beat, assuming she’ll be nominated in the same category. To that end, hopefully writers and film producers require no further proof that quality movies and box office success are both accomplished by way of films centred on middle-aged women who are strong and equally courageous in their contrasting ways. More please.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is showing in cinemas across Australia from October 19th until November 16th as part of the Cunard British Film Festival and in general release from October 27th.

Moviedoc thanks Miranda Brown Publicity and Palace Cinema for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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