British actress Lesley Manville has never ever stopped working since her first TV role in 1974. A mainstay of Mke Leigh films (Secret & Lies, Topsy Turvey, Vera Drake, etc) and an impressive resume in some prestigious TV series, she finally got a juicy part in Phantom Thread. It deservedly netted her both an Academy Award and BAFTA Nomination. And now she finally gets a starring role in Focus Features new production of MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS.
Based on a novel by Paul Gallico published in 1958, it is a charming post WW2 story set in England still struggling to shake off rationing. It’s the tale of Ada Harris a hard-working charwoman who scrubs floors to scrape by. She is so enchanted by her wealthy employer’s couture wardrobe that she becomes fixated with a dream of going to the House of Dior in Paris to purchase an evening gown of her own.
She is a total charmer which is several rebuffs, in the beginning, she nevertheless achieves her goal with the assistance of a French Marquis. She first meets him at the house of Dior during an afternoon showing and he becomes a long-term friend as do a series of other characters revealed to have hidden hearts.
It is a totally wonderful feel-good movie and Marchant really is in her element ….. as is her co-star Isabelle Huppert and of course The House of Dior itself.
Turns out that Mrs. Harris has been to Paris before, First in 1958 with the British Music Hall star Gracie Fields; in 1962 Inge Meysel starred in a version called Ein Kleid von Diorand directed by Lansbury’s son Anthony Shaw.
This latest adaptation is directed and co-written by Anthony Fabian also stars Anna Chancellor, Jason Isaacs and Freddie Fox is being released in the US by Focus Features on July 15th. It’s at the top of our list of must-see films this summer … as it should be for any gay man who ever had dreams about Dior couture
P.S. In the fifth season of The Crown,, which follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth 11, Lesley Manville will be playing Princess Margaret. It will be released by Netflix in November 2022.
Labels: 2022, comedy, Focus Features, Isabelle Huppert, L=elsy Manville, movie preview
