Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris Review: Lesley Manville Shines In Wholesome 1950s Tale
Every once in a while, an unassuming movie will come along and take its audience completely by surprise with how delightful it is. Such is the case with Anthony Fabian's Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, a charming low-stakes adventure about the importance of — of all things — kindness. Based on a novel by Paul Gallico, the 1950s-set film might come across as a relatively simple tale in a moviegoing landscape populated by superheroes and dinosaurs. However, this is a project that has hidden depths and will leave viewers smiling, provided they're willing to go along with the sugary sweet tone. Led by a great Lesley Manville, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a delightfully wholesome film and the very definition of a «feel good» story.
Mrs. Ada Harris (Manville) is a simple woman. Left widowed by World War II, she spends her days cleaning for selfish clients and happily gossiping with her best friend Vi (Ellen Thomas). Ada is relatively content with her life, but the discovery of a gorgeous custom Dior gown during one of her cleaning sessions leaves her with a new goal: Save up, travel to Paris, and buy a frock of her own. Ada's journey has plenty of bumps along the way, not in the least because Dior typically doesn't serve everyday women like her. However, her persistence and sunny outlook just might be enough to change the minds of everyone around her, including Dior's uptight director Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert).
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On paper, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris seems to have incredibly low stakes. A middle-aged woman seeking to buy a dress doesn't exactly make for high drama, and to his credit, Fabian doesn't attempt to elicit that. He co-wrote the
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