Emily in Paris for geriatrics”. That’s what cruel commentators might be tempted to label Cinderellalike story, based on a 1958 Paul Gallico novella about a cleaning lady from Battersea. Luckily, with the fantastic Lesley Manville as said maid, nothing is as it seems.
Ada Harris from the book is a selfless and courageous widow who falls in love with one of her clients Dior dresses. When she comes in Parisall set to buy a dress with her hard-earned money, she impresses an open-minded Marquis, endearing herself to practically every Dior collaborator she meets and is rewarded for her fairytale ways with… flowers. She should never roam around in her dress. It’s grueling!
In Mrs’ Arris Goes to Paris, the spectacular 90s TV movie, Angela Lansbury’s Ada has a little more fun. She and the Marquis (Omar Sharif) scratch each other’s backs, albeit in a platonic way, and Ada gets to wear her pretty dress before returning to her dingy digs. The ball gown, dangling from a hanger in Ada’s London kitchen, makes a magical little gesture. that is the happy ending.
Isabelle Huppert stars as Claudine Colbert and Roxane Duran as Marguerite
/ David Lukazs/Ada Films Ltd – Harris Squared KftThis time it’s still the 1950s, but Ada is not only a talented seamstress, but also has a working libido (she is attracted to two men, including Lambert Wilson’s Marquis de Chassagne, who has been royally screwed up by his upbringing ). She also hangs out with fans of left-wing intellectual Jean-Paul Sartre, organizes a workers’ strike, is defended by an outright proud communist and single-handedly circumvents the snobbery of Isabelle HuppertDior manager, Mrs Colbert.
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris can never be mistaken for a Ken Loach polemic. But while it shows us a lot of beautiful dresses, it comes very close to giving the finger to feudalism.
Lesley Manville as Mrs. Harris with Lucas Bravo as André Fauvel
/ David Lukazs/Ada Films Ltd – Harris Squared KftA note about the dresses. Most of them (reproductions of Dior “New Look” classics or originals designed by three-time Oscar winner Jenny Beavan) are sublime. But one skirt looks like a tiny and poorly put together tent. Or a giant tea cozy. Anyway, it’s horrible. Thank goodness Ada is donned by two outfits cut from different fabrics and in the thrilling final third of the film, everything works in a way that is utterly delightful.
Years ago, when I told a friend that I was naming my daughter Ada, they were shocked and said, “That sounds like a cleaning lady’s name!” To Manville’s Ada, a woman who knows you’re never too old — or too working-class — to be one of the happiest beauties at the prom.
115 minutes, certificate PG
In cinemas