Review: You don’t see many sweet little surprises like 'Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris'

By Peter Travers

In a Marvel world of gods and monsters, you don't often see sweet little surprises like "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris," now in theaters (until it's crowded out by the next epic explosion of special effects).

Based on a 1958 novel by Paul Gallico, "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" stars the glorious Lesley Manville in a role poles apart from her Oscar-nominated turn as the fashionista sister of Daniel Day Lewis in "Phantom Thread."

Manville's Ada Harris is a London cleaning lady who scrubs toilets and tidies closets for lady bosses who regard her as an invisible woman.

Manville, in a performance brimming over with humor and heart, makes it impossible not to notice Ada, such is her generosity of spirit. When Ada tells her bestie Vi (Ellen Thomas) that she yearns to visit Paris and purchase a Dior gown, Vi laughs off the idea as fantasy.

Focus Features

A scene from "Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris."

Ada, her eyes bright with her impossible dream, knows better. And when she comes into a war widow's pension after receiving confirmation that her adored Royal Air Force pilot husband did indeed die in action during World War II a dozen years earlier, Ada is off to pursue her goal.

Roadblocks start right at the door of the House of Dior in the form of gatekeeper Claudine Colbert, played by French icon Isabelle Huppert with an icy condescension similar to Manville's in "Phantom Thread." Luckily, other Parisians can relate easily to Ada.

They include a French marquis (Lambert Wilson) who chivalrously escorts her into a Dior fashion show. And there's Natasha (the gorgeous Alba Baptista), a model she sets up with Andre (Lucas Bravo), a shy Dior exec who invites Ada to share his sister's Paris apartment.

It turns out that Ada had no idea it would take more than a week to be fitted for a Dior gown, an expense her tiny windfall couldn't hope to cover. Dependent on the kindness of strangers, Ada finds herself in a world beyond her wildest imaginings.

And what a world it is. With brightly-colored costumes by "Cruella" Oscar winner Jenny Beavan, the movie is an elegant, eye-popping feast of visual miracles -- done with Dior approval -- that brings to life the fashions of the 1950s for all to savor.

Universal Pictures

A scene from "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris."

The personal story of Mrs. Harris, co-written by director Anthony Fabian, becomes a catalyst for the greater changes inside of Ada as she lets this vast outside universe into a circumscribed life of poverty. Spying Dior himself, she giggles, "He looks just like my milkman."

The movie struggles to build conflict into its basic plot by pitting the marquis against Ada's bookmaker boyfriend (Jason Isaac) back home. Still, Manville is always there to bring joy to a lonely woman whose pain never blots out her passion for life

Even when "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" misses the mark -- with an ending of Ada in Dior that wobbles when we most need it to soar -- the sublime Manville transports us to a place of pure movie enchantment.

The result is totally irresistible.