Movie Review: Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

A very sweet and warmhearted movie.

This film is very much a fairytale. This is not as much true in what happens but in how the story is told. Like most fairytales this film is dedicated to all those who dare to dream and who believe their dreams can really come true. This is a very important factor because it is what makes the film feel so completely believable. While nothing in this movie is impossible, most everything is very improbable. Yet it is just the kind of dreams come true type of story that so many people love. To simply see a good-hearted person, achieve all their dreams is something that simply makes one feel good, and that is just what happens in this movie. Mrs. Harris here is a character who is hard not to like. While she is not completely perfect, she is the type of person we would all want for a friend. In other words she is someone who knows how to put other people in front of herself. Yet at the same time she always conducts herself with dignity and respect. There is no doubt she belongs just as much in the fashion world as any of the wealthier characters in the movie.  Her dream to see herself in one of these expensive dresses, makes so much sense because there is a certain indescribable elegance to her even as a house cleaner. She is a Pollyanna type of character, who can even turn around the most cynical people in the fashion world. Yet this is handled in a way that is never cloying. None of this would work though if she wasn't played by the right actress. Luckily Lesley Manville (who you may remember played a very different character in a fashion-based film in Phantom Thread (2017)) is wonderful. She plays the character with such charm and grace that even the most sugar-coated moments feel believable. 

This is also a very beautiful looking movie. Important for a movie about fashion, the costume work is wonderful. As beautiful as a lot of the fancy dresses made at Dior's are, where I really appreciated this work was in how Mrs. Harris was dressed as a cleaning lady. The clothes she wore may not have been expensive or fancy, but they looked good on her and showed us that this is a character, who cares about looking nice and keeping a good appearance. She is not a character who would ever be out in raggedy or ugly clothes and this just illustrates the dignity that she conducts herself with. This movie could also be an advertisement for Paris. While countless films have shown us how beautiful Paris is, the magic of Paris in the movies has never faded. This film captures everything that people love about Paris in the movies. 

This movie is admittedly very familiar and there is no time, when you cannot guess what is going to happen next. There are no real surprises in this film's story. However this is overcome by this movie having considerably more charm than many of the similar films.