Mrs Harris the feel-good film of the year
from start to finish. Filled with spectacular costumes, gorgeous production design, charming characters and storytelling that will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions, director Anthony Fabian (2008’s Skin, starring
Sam Neill and Sophie Okonedo) most importantly gets the tone right, reflecting Ada Harris’ halfbucket-full approach to life, but not shying away from the setbacks and prejudices she has to endure.
Following in the footsteps of Gracie Fields and Angela Lansbury, who played the character in TV versions of the story in 1958 and 1992 respectively, Manville is a revelation, especially after her recent ‘‘harder’’ turns in Sherwood, Phantom Thread, Save Me Too and Let Him Go.
Known to her clients as the soul of discretion (‘‘No-one would ever know that she’s been but for the polish on my knobs,’’ Christian McKay’s playboy,
Giles Newcombe, cheekily tells his latest muse), her Ada is a fiercely determined woman, whether it’s striving for a goal, or standing up for hers – or others’ – rights. Manville conveys the joy and pain in
Ada’s life with equal aplomb, the emotional, hilarious and heartwarming centre of what is actually a magnificently assembled ensemble.
There’s the always compelling Isabelle Huppert as disapproving Dior director Claudine Colbert, Lambert Wilson as the charming Marquis de Chassagne, Jason Isaacs playing a roguish Irish bookie, and the delightful pairing of Ticket to Paradise’s Lucas Bravo and Warrior Nun’s Alba Baptista as Dior’s accountant and ‘‘face’’, each with their own struggles to overcome. The latter is a true scene-stealer, a rising star who reminds one of the luminous Audrey Hepburn.
Go for the gorgeous gowns, stay for the evocative storytelling, and leave with an uplift in your spirits uplifted and a spring in your step.
❚ Mrs Harris Goes to Paris is screening in cinemas nationwide.