It doesn’t seem to matter what time of year it is, there’s always room for a movie like Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris to warm our hearts and prove simple, undemanding counter programming to the usual loud blockbusters, or, in 2022’s case, creepy horror films, that are often occupying the multiplexes.
An exercise in kindness and couture, Mrs. Harris… is an all-audience friendly affair that introduces us to its titular character, Ada Harris (played with utter love by the endearing Lesley Manville), in 1957 where she’s a humble, but no less determined, cleaning lady in the working-class area of South London. Her husband has disappeared in the war, though she still wears her wedding room in the hopes he’ll return, and in between her cleaning jobs she spends her days commuting with her best friend Vi (an enjoyable Ellen Thomas), before a cheeky pint in the evening with the charming Archie (Jason Isaacs). It’s a simple life, but one that will soon be invigorated by a fashionable introduction.
At one of her cleaning jobs for the rather detestable Lady Dant (Anna Chancellor, relishing her time as quite the worst), Ada uncovers a £500 couture Christian Dior gown. And instead of being wholly jealous of such expensive beauty, it awakens a desire in Ada to want one herself and put her own pennies together in order to do so. Through a series of narrative conveniences that flush the lucky lady with some extra pounds, Ada flits off to Paris and tails it to the doorstep of Dior’s atelier studio with only her rolled-up banknotes and determination to get her through the door.
Despite having the money needed to purchase such a dress, the snooty directress Madame Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) wants nothing of Ada’s commoner sort within the Dior house. But between the sweet-natured Natasha (Alba Baptista), the collection’s head model, a marquis (Lambert Wilson), and Dior’s accountant (Lucas Bravo), all reminding Colbert that cash-in-hand will outweigh snobbery every time, Ada’s yes to the dress is granted, but, custom designed as it is, her intended quick trip to the city is extended. Cue the charm of Paris.
As easy as it would’ve been for Mrs. Harris… to rest on its simplistic charm and expected narrative beats – you wanna bet the beautiful Natasha wants to be desired for more than her looks, and the sexy-but-doesn’t-know-it accountant is enamoured with her mind – director Anthony Fabian knows that so much of this film’s believability rests in Manville’s hands, and her navigation of the character consistently elevates it beyond the archetype we’d expect. She’s nice without being clueless, she’s honest without being cliché, and in her subtle radicality in liberating the working women behind Dior with the belief that any woman can wear couture, she expresses a strength without it succumbing to a ridiculousness.
A movie that lets us all believe that no matter what our dreams or desires are – in this case it’s the dress – they can be achieved in spite of outside voices or common sense, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a warm hug of a movie, something that’ll embrace you and tell you everything will be fine. Such an endeavour won’t change the course of cinema, but, my word, will it make you feel special; and, right now, that’s more than enough of a reason to support this European excursion.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is screening in Australian theatres from October 27th, 2022.
