There’s a Paddington-y loveliness to Anthony Fabian’s adaptation of Paul Gallico’s 1958 novel. It takes place in a world where everything is simplistic, good guys always win and sadness can be quickly banished with a chirpy one-liner and a nice cup of tea. Like that film, its storybook world is so well drawn and its sense of humour so infectious that it’s near impossible not to fall for its upbeat charms.
The plot is a delicate whisp of a thing: in 1957, Ada Harris (Lesley Manville) is a widowed cleaner who asks very little from the world. One day, while tidying the wardrobe of an extravagant client (an enjoyably haughty Anna Chancellor), Mrs Harris comes face-to-bodice with a Christian Dior gown. It’s instant love. The world turns to soft focus. She must have one of her own, even though they cost £500. Once she’s found the money, Mrs Harris heads to Paris and delights most of the city with her salt-of-the-earth cheer.
Lesley Manville plays Harris as a woman who remains cheerful through force of will.
The film has enormous fun with Harris sorting out the world of haute couture in the same way she might straighten up a living room. She marches smartly into Dior, calling their sumptuous creations “frocks” and sending everyone into a tizz. The Parisian cast are a collection of clichés. A model bored with being just a pretty face. An unfeasibly handsome, Sartre-reading accountant who’s shyly in love with said model. A tailor who shrieks “C’est impossible!” or similar every time Mrs Harris appears in his workroom. They couldn’t be more cartoonishly French if they arrived at work on bicycles with a string of onions round their neck — yet the script isn’t mocking them, showing limitless affection for these sketches. As do the actors — especially Isabelle Huppert, withering all before her as Dior’s manager.
All this pretty puff is securely anchored by a fabulous Lesley Manville. She plays Harris as a woman who remains cheerful through force of will. Life keeps trying to knock her over but she refuses to budge. Mrs Harris’ little adventure and her dream may be silly, but this lovely film treats that silliness as a commendable goal. When everything’s grim why not dream of a little silliness?
