We wanted something light, undemanding and not too long to watch during a busy time of year. We hadn’t seen ‘Mrs ‘Arris Goes to Paris’ for almost nine years, and had only the vaguest memories of it. So it seemed like a good idea to watch it again.
What a lovely film it is, too! Set in the 1950s, the star of this delightful film is Angela Lansbury, in the title role. Mrs Harris is a cleaning lady for the wealthy, widowed many years earlier. In one house she sees two stunning ball gowns, and can’t get over how beautiful they are. She decides that she will save up all her money until she can afford to buy a dress from Dior…
So Mrs Harris goes on an economy drive, giving up all luxuries and unnecessary expenses. She works hard for three years until she has managed to save 450 pounds, which would have been an enormous sum in those days. Her best friend tries to convince her to do something more practical with the money, rather than wasting it all on a dress that she will probably never wear. But Mrs Harris wants to follow her dream…
The main part of the film follows our heroine as she makes her way to Paris, via taxi and aeroplane - evidently considerably less expensive than the dress. And she manages to get into the Dior showroom building, via a back entrance. She has no idea about the system; she simply assumed she could look at a rack of dresses and choose one to buy. Instead, she has to watch a demonstration with models showing the dresses, and then when she finally sees one she loves, it has to be handmade for her specially…
Of course it’s not that simple. Mrs Harris was only planning to stay in Paris for one day, but it will take at least a week to make her dress. She has no extra money for accommodation. And the director of Dior is a snooty many who doesn’t want an English cleaning lady to have a Dior dress…
However the other staff are much nicer, and Mrs Harris wins their hearts through her kindness and wisdom. She manages, in the week she’s in Paris, to make many friends, to help mend a family relationship and to help someone else to start a romantic one. She does a lot to help everyone she comes across in a variety of ways, possibly unrealistically in such a short space of time, but that really doesn't matter. It’s heart-warming, and there are some very moving scenes.
Omar Sharif is excellent as a friendly Marquis who is charmed by Mrs Harris, but all the supporting cast were excellent.
There’s a great deal of humour too, and it’s interesting from the social history point of view as well. The theme about following one’s dream, no matter what, is a positive one. Apparently the film, made in 1992, was based on a 1958 novel. The rating is PG - I’m not sure why it isn’t U, unless it’s due to a small amount of violence - and we thought it well worth seeing again.
Definitely recommended.
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