Movie Review: Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris (2022)

Genre: Dramedy  

Director: Anthony Fabian  

Starring: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo  
Running Time: 115 minutes  

Synopsis: In London of 1957, middle-aged cleaning lady Ada Harris (Lesley Manville) finally comes to terms with the wartime death of her husband. After spotting an expensive Dior gown in a client's wardrobe, Ada saves every penny and travels to Paris, intent on buying a haute couture dress for herself. Her planned one-day quest extends into a whirlwind week, as she gets involved with House of Dior staff members including the stern directress Mme Colbert (Isabelle Huppert), thoughtful accountant André Fauvel (Lucas Bravo), and unhappy model Natasha (Alba Baptista). Ada also attracts the attention of widower Marquis de Chassagne (Lambert Wilson).

What Works Well: The adaptation of Paul Gallico's 1958 novel is a winsome collection of good intentions traversing cultural and class divides. Definitely sweet and fluffy but without stepping over sentimentality limits, the narrative explores later-in-life opportunities for romance, unlikely friendships, the role and meaning of expensive fashion, and the economic and sometimes exploitive realities behind glitzy facades. Impressively, Mrs. Harris' adventure even encompasses the business imperative to evolve. Lesley Manville's central performance stems from subtle yet pragmatic steeliness, while the pleasing aesthetics of late-1950s London and Paris neighbourhoods add visual appeal.

What Does Not Work As Well: Some sequences surrender to Dior advertorials, while the running time unnecessarily drags towards the two hour mark.

Key Quote:

Mme Colbert: A Dior dress is designed to astonish. How would you do that, Mrs. Harris?



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Movie Review: Back To Black (2024)

Genre: Musical Biography  

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson  
Starring: Marisa Abela, Jack O'Connell, Eddie Marsan, Lesley Manville  

Running Time: 122 minutes  

Synopsis: In London, teenager Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) comes from a modest working class family and is blessed with a throwback singing voice. She has a close relationship with her grandmother Cynthia (Lesley Manville), while her taxi driver father Mitch (Eddie Marsan) fancies himself a crooner. Amy is more into jazz and writes emotional songs inspired by her addictions to men, booze, weed, and bulimia. On the cusp of success, Amy takes a break from music and falls into a turbulent relationship with bad boy Blake (Jack O'Connell), providing the inspiration to write songs for her next album, Back To Black. 

What Works Well: This impressionistic portrait of a troubled artist succeeds in capturing the fountain of artistry at the intersection of talent, passion, environment, and character. Writer Matt Greenhalgh and director Sam Taylor-Johnson maintain an intense focus on Amy, allowing her to own her success as an uncompromising anachronistic revivalist of jazz music and 1960s glamour, and just as fully embrace all the fault lines of her tragedy: attraction to bad boys, substance abuse, and a wicked temper. With the musical highlights seamlessly weaving through the narrative, Marisa Abela does her own singing and embodies Amy in a hauntingly honest performance punctuated by searing line deliveries. The recreation of early 2000s London fashions adds organic texture.

What Does Not Work As Well: Some of the jumps in time and place are uncoordinated, leaving a few side characters (including Amy's mother and a roommate) stranded. The running time is slightly padded, but the origins of Amy's demonic addictions deserved more attention. 

Key Quote:

Amy: I need to live, my songs.

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Movie Review: Ordinary Love (2019)

A romantic drama, Ordinary Love is a simple story of a well-matched couple navigating an unwelcome health crisis.

In Belfast, Joan and Tom Thompson (Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson) are a long-married couple, both retired and still comfortably in love, although the death of their daughter in an accident years prior still hurts. Now Joan feels a lump in her left breast, and after tests reveal the presence of cancer, she embarks on treatment involving surgery and chemotherapy. Tom provides full support, but the endless hospital visits and uncertain outcomes test the marriage's harmony.

A two-person character study, Ordinary Love tracks a year-long journey through the medical system. Refreshingly, writer Owen McCafferty is interested in capturing the coping habits of adjusted adults, and co-directors Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn construct a tidy, histrionics-free drama. No villains intrude on this story, even the medical system functions when and as needed, and most scenes portray mundane but essential hospital procedures and their physical and emotional after effects.

The ordinary title underlines the normalcy of often ignored long-lasting unions, and the pragmatism Joan and Tom bring into their year of turmoil does mean the film lacks sparks. This sophisticated marriage balances on communication, demonstrated appreciation, companionship, sensuality, and limitless love. The couple do lose their composure on a couple of testing occasions, but are quick to recalibrate. 

Barros D'Sa and Leyburn inject vibrancy by actively seeking interesting perspectives and playful lighting, with an emphasis on orderly symmetry, straight lines, and stark contrasts. The palette is dominated by the grey skies of Northern Ireland and the equally grey aesthetics of hospitals and doctors' offices.

The film demands perfect central performances, and Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville provide an immediate sense of two people comfortable in their own skin and just as comfortable as a couple aware of entrenched quirks and instinctively calibrated rhythms. As the patient subjected to a barrage of medical procedures, Manville pushes into a raw and physically demanding performance. The only other notable characters are gay couple Peter and Steve (David Wilmot and Amit Shah). They are also going through cancer treatment, providing Joan and Tom an opportunity to compare, contrast, and interact.

No extraordinary acts reside within Ordinary Love - other than the quiet demonstration of resiliency, seemingly effortless but actually nurtured over decades.



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The Movies Of Lesley Manville

All movies starring Lesley Manville and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Hampstead (2017)

Phantom Thread (2017)

Ordinary Love (2019)

Misbehaviour (2020)

Let Him Go (2020)

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris (2022)

Back To Black (2024)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.