Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Review

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a comedy-drama that’s based on a novel by Paul Gallico.

Ada Harris (Lesley Manville) is a cleaner in London. She lives alone in Battersea and harbours hopes of her husband returning home despite going missing during the Second World War. Mrs. Harris becomes obsessed with a Christian Dior dress owned by one of her clients and after a big win on the football pools she sets out to save up the money to go to Paris and buy her own dress.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris was feel good, light-hearted escapism. It was a film that can easily cater to its target audience of older women. They can enjoy the fashion and the scenery, whilst all audiences can enjoy the humour and good nature.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris had the air of the Paddington movies. This seems like an odd comparison because they have different target audiences and one franchise featuring a talking bear, but they share a good-natured philosophy and outlook. Mrs. Harris believes in hard work, grafting, and being kind to others.

Mrs. Harris had a Paddington quality to her. She makes things better for the people around her. When she was working she helped out her clients, like Pamela Penrose (Rose Williams), an aspiring actress with a ditzy mind. When Mrs. Harris leaves London for a week, things fall apart.

Mrs. Harris brought that good and helping nature to Dior. The staff fall in love with her and want help, like Natasha the model (Alba Baptisia), André Fauvel (Lucas Bravo), the company accountant, and Marguerite (Roxane Duran), one of the assistants at the company. Marquis de Chassagne (Lambert Wilson), a widower gets drawn to Mrs. Harris and the pair seemingly have an attraction to each other.

Mrs. Harris attempts to help the workers at Dior. She saw Natasha and Monsieur Faurvel had an attraction to each other, but they haven’t done anything about it. Mrs. Harris attempts to play matchmaker and get these two young, good-looking people to become a couple.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris makes its political leaning clear. One of Mrs. Harris’ clients was a Lady who claimed to have money problems so kept giving Mrs. Harris the brush-off when there were demands for payment. When Mrs. Harris arrived in Paris she discovers the binmen were on strike and the company director, Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) tried to keep Mrs. Harris from the exclusive world of Dior. Mrs. Harris had an affinity with the workers of Dior leading to her making a stand for the workers. The film had a message of Dior becoming more accessible and going beyond its exclusive store in Paris. It was the opposite message in House of Gucci where Rodolfo and Maurizio Gucci believed appealing to the masses cheapened the brand.

Whilst Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris aimed to champion the power of the worker and stand up to elitism, it was hardly a socialist rallying call. It wanted to be a celebration of luxury, glamour, and fashion as well. Mrs. Harris was willing to spend £500 in 1950s money on a dress. The film was going for the having its cake and eat it approach.

The film was going for a message that if someone is kind to others then people will be kind back. It’s a nice sentiment, but at times Mrs. Harris seems to be just incredibly lucky. The catalyst for the film was when Mrs. Harris won £150 on the football pools and when she arrived in Paris she was fortunate to meet a load of people willing to help, including Monsieur Faurvel offering Mrs. Harris a place to stay for a week.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris was a witty film. There were loads of jokes I enjoyed in the film. A couple I enjoyed was the French translation for Toad in the Hole and when Miss Penrose gave Mrs. Harris an unintended insult.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris was a sweet, charming film that was easy to like. It was simple, feel-good cinema.