Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022, dir. Anthony Fabian, UK) by Kymm Zuckert
“A Dior dress is designed to astonish. How will you do that, Mrs. Harris? You are nobody. Invisible.”
When I saw the poster for Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, I immediately knew that this was a film I wanted to see. It turns out I was completely right, and I rather wish I hadn’t seen the trailer, which gives away too much. On the other hand, it’s not exactly the kind of film where you don’t know right from the start whether the cleaning woman who wants a Dior gown is going to end up with a Dior gown, so it’s hard to spoil, but there are a few twists, and one nice moment I would rather not have known in advance.
Mrs. Harris (Lesley Manville) is a London char-lady in the 1950’s. Her husband was lost in the war, and she lives the quiet, somewhat invisible life of the working-class older woman. She has her friends, fellow char-lady Vi, (Ellen Thomas), (smartly rewritten from the original to be West Indian, as this was the time of the Windrush generation), and Irish dog track bookie Archie, (Jason Isaacs). She works, goes to the pub, and isn’t so much unhappy, she just feels as though the better part of her life is behind her.
Then, one day, she sees a Dior gown in the closet of a client, who tells her that it cost £500 (over $16,500 in today’s money), and Mrs. Harris suddenly is overwhelmed with the desire to have such a beautiful dress herself, no matter how impractical.
Through various turns of luck, she gets the money together and off she goes to Paris, to the House of Dior. Now, is the House of Dior full of snobby people who don’t think cleaning ladies should wear haute couture Dior gowns? Somewhat. Is it also full of people charmed by the plucky Mrs. Harris and her dream of owning such a gown? Definitely.
The film is entirely lovely and charming, and the performances are excellent. In addition to those mentioned earlier, there is Isabelle Huppert as the gatekeeper of the House of Dior, who wants no part of cleaning ladies and their ridiculous dreams, Sartre-reading model Natasha, (Alba Baptista), and fellow existentialist and accountant in love with her from afar, André, (Lucas Bravo).
But more than anything else are the clothes! The Dior gowns, the chic Paris fashion, even down to the clothing worn by the London working class, all are a feast for the eye and a treat to behold.
Mrs. Harris was originally Mrs. ‘Arris, created by author Paul Gallico, who had quite the career. In addition to the four Mrs. ‘Arris books (she also went to New York, Moscow, and became an M.P.!), he wrote the book The Poseidon Adventure, the short story that the movie Lili and the musical Carousel were based on, the book that the live-action Disney film of my childhood, The Three Lives of Thomasina, was based on, and the book The Silent Miaow, which I loved as a child, an instruction book told from the point of view of a cat, as to how to control people. An impressive range of genres!
There was also a TV movie version of this story made in 1992, starring Angela Lansbury. It is out of print, but someone uploaded the whole thing onto YouTube, definitely something to check out, in addition to the books. I feel there will be much Mrs. Harris in my future! And I hope yours as well.
Kymm Zuckert is an actor/writer/native Angelino. When Kymm was a child, her parents would take her to see anything, which means that sometimes she will see a film today and say, “I saw that when I was eight, I don’t remember any of that inappropriate sex stuff!” Check out her entire 365 day blog @ https://365filmsin365days.movie.blog