Starring: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista and Lucas Bravo
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 115 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2022
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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This comedy-drama tells the story of a London cleaning lady who is inspired to buy couture Dior dress.
Ada Harris (Manville) is an unassuming, widowed, middle-aged cleaning lady working in London in the 1950s. She becomes obsessed with the glamour of a Dior dress owned by one of her clients when she sees the dress hanging in her client’s wardrobe, and it inspires her to want to buy her own couture dress. This is the third film adaptation of Paul Gallico’s 1958 best-selling novel, Mrs. ’Arris Goes to Paris. The film was made with the collaboration of the House of Dior in Paris. Manville was nominated for an Oscar in the historical fashion-design film, Phantom Thread (2017), but this film has her playing a very different role.
Mrs Harris has fallen madly in love with the Dior dress she has seen, and is determined to have one of her own. To achieve what she wants, Ada starves herself and gambles, and with unexpected additional backpay from a reinstated war widow’s pension, she finds she has the 500 pounds to go to Paris to buy the dress of her dreams.
In Paris, she connects accidentally with a formal showing of Dior’s 10th Anniversary collection. There, she is befriended by Natasha (Baptista), who is an elegant Dior fashion model and Andre Fauvel (Bravo), a handsome Dior accountant. Not so friendly is Claudine Colbert (Huppert), an executive director for Dior, who at first regards Ada cynically as intrusive and socially embarrassing.
Ada is bearing cash, and the House of Dior is experiencing financial strain. Ada is befriended by the Marquis de Chassagne (Lambert Wilson), who is also a widower. With a little friendly help from royalty, she manages to become an invited guest to Dior’s prestigious exhibition room, which facilitates the dress that she wants, and makes it for her.
While in Paris there are issues at the fashion house and Claudine comes to appreciate the wisdom of what Ada’s advice. With her precious dress in hand, Ada returns to London, but it’s not quite the end of the story.
This film is an old fashioned, feel-good story, told with affection and endearment from the viewpoint of the main character. Manville is wonderful as Ada. She lives the character and is thoroughly engaging. Manville gives Ada a comic touch, that is equally dramatic, and her smiles and warmth are uniformly endearing. The film is unapologetic for valuing the idea of beauty in fashion garments, and Manville acts out what one underprivileged woman wants – with satirical glances directed to ‘The House of Dior’. The film further addresses homelessness as a serious social issue; Ada has been there, and knows its meaning.
This is a movie about a humble person, lowly employed, who pursues an unusual ambition in life, and turns her dream into reality. The House of Dior is wonderfully frocked for the movie, and its main collection is well worth the wait to see. The film’s ending might be too plot-friendly for some, but this is a film that is gloriously sentimental and unashamedly escapist for uncertain times.
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