There's a fine line between sweet and cloying, and the British dramedy Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris crosses it a little too often. It's hard to dislike this colorful, eager-to-please movie, centered on a likable performance from Lesley Manville as a woman so kindhearted that she's almost the human equivalent of Paddington Bear. Manville makes sure that Mrs. Harris herself is never overbearing to watch, but the movie around her ultimately gets far too cutesy for its own good.
Based on the 1958 Paul Gallico novel, which has been adapted several times and spawned a series of books about working-class London cleaning lady and seamstress Ada Harris, the movie is set in 1957, when the humble Mrs. Harris finally receives official word of her husband's death in World War II. She's spent the last 13 years since he went missing quietly hoping he'd somehow return, and the news of his death shakes her out of the stasis she's been stuck in. She's further shaken by a dress she spots in the home of one of her condescending rich clients, a gorgeous piece from French fashion house Christian Dior.
Thanks to a series of unexpected financial windfalls, Mrs. Harris finds herself with the resources to travel to Paris and purchase a Dior dress, a small but meaningful indulgence to bring some brightness into her life. But the Dior establishment isn't a retail store, it's an haute couture fashion house where every item is a custom-made work of art. With her frumpy style and brash manner, Mrs. Harris is almost unable to gain entrance into the showcase of Dior's latest line, until the generous Marquis de Chassagne (Lambert Wilson) invites her as his guest.
Nearly everyone that Mrs. Harris meets in Paris turns out to be generous and helpful, and even people like the snooty Dior executive Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) eventually warm to this disarming woman. Mrs. Harris picks out a dress that she likes during the fashion show, but she doesn't realize that she'll need to stay for a week in Paris so it can be tailor-made to her measurements. Luckily, Dior financial officer André Fauvel (Lucas Bravo) is more than happy to let her stay in his spare room.
While in Paris, Mrs. Harris continues to make friends, while attending her fittings and taking in the local culture. She facilitates a romance between two Dior employees, foments a staff rebellion when layoffs are threatened, and almost single-handedly sets the company on the path of the mass-market powerhouse it would later become. It's all a little much to place on the head of one unassuming woman, and eventually Mrs. Harris' ability to solve every problem and rally everyone to her side goes from charming to irritating.
That's not to discount the movie's charm, though, and if the filmmakers had trimmed the movie down from nearly two hours, the charm might have been enough. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is too long for something this slight, and it drags in the final act as Mrs. Harris returns to London. While in Paris, she encounters demonstrators and witnesses the lingering damage of the war, but any hints of social commentary are cheerfully brushed aside.
The appealing supporting cast also includes Alba Baptista as a Dior model with intellectual ambitions, Ellen Thomas as Mrs. Harris' encouraging best friend, and Jason Isaacs as a local barfly and potential suitor. None of them gets quite enough to do, despite the extended running time, and the great Huppert is especially wasted in her stock exec role. She becomes just another smiling face propping up Mrs. Harris' relentless reign of niceness. ♦
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
