"Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" is like "Mary Poppins" for young-at-heart adults. Based on the novel by Paul Gallico, this whimsical film has the titular character, Ada Harris (Lesley Manville), a working-class British cleaning woman in the 1950s, realize her dream of buying a haute couture Dior dress. Along the way, her kindness and common sense enables her to change the lives of almost everyone she meets for the better. It may be pure wish fulfillment, but this fairy tale of a film is as irresistible as the Dior dress Mrs. Harris covets.
Director Anthony Fabian invites viewers to indulge in this fantasy from its opening scene, where Ada tosses a coin on a bridge and a bit of magic happens. Will it be her lucky day? Ada goes off to work for her clients, cleaning their homes, and listening to and solving their problems. Mrs. Harris has problems of her own; she finally gets word that her husband, Eddie, has died in the war. She also has a client, Lady Dant (Anna Chancellor) who has not paid her for her work. But Lady Dant does have a Christian Dior haute couture dress, and suddenly, a dream is awakened in Mrs. Harris. She desires one of her own. And she will scrimp and save the 500 pounds (plus expenses) to make her dream dress a reality.
