Film: Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (PG) by Harry Mount "underneath all the fake sentimentality, there is a streak of real, moving sentiment'
On page 32 of this issue, Barry Humphries writes about visiting Paris, only to find the city has lost its charms. Barry – and I – would much prefer the Paris of 1958. It’s the Paris the London charlady visits in this charming (if a bit clunking) film. It’s based on the 1958 novel Mrs ’Arris Goes to Paris, by Paul Gallico (1897-1956), the American writer best known for The Snow Goose. Ada Harris (a sympathetically nervy Lesley Manville, a study in restrained emotion) is a war widow, worn down by her dreary cleaning jobs. Then, one day, she spots a Christian Dior dress belonging to one of her dreadful employers, Lady Dant – brilliantly played by Anna Chancellor, the go-to casting choice for playing entitled, grumpy toffs. She was marvellous as Duckface in Four Weddings and a Funeral, and she’s even better at nasty Sloanes than nice, simpering ones...
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