Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.

In the midst of high voltage blockbusters, your summer escape is here.

Adapted from Paul Gallico’s 1958 novel, Lesley Manville becomes a 1950s London housekeeper on a dreamy journey to head to Paris to purchase her very own Dior dress.

The story is simple, widowed Mrs. Harris has spent years of her life working hard and being kind to those around her. Her days are monotonous with nothing out of the ordinary, until one day she sees a beautiful Dior dress in the closet of one of her clients and her life changes. The dress to her seems like a reward for her years of hard work, and something as simple as going to purchase a dress turns into a charming, fantastical journey.

Mrs.Harris treks to Paris where she is met with a variety of French personalities from cruel Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) to kind Natasha (Alba Baptista). All of these personalities, find something intriguing about the Brit, but it seems like they still don’t understand what she is hoping to accomplish. The charming nature of Harris is a bit hard to translate from book to screen with people so easily becoming infatuated with her.

Lesley Manville gives a pleasure filled performance as the title character. She maintains humanity but also feels like a book character in the best way possible. Main characters can get in their own way often and while she does, it only adds to the story and raises the stakes. Her kindness is often the cause of her hurt when others take advantage in her meaningful gestures.

Overall this story is meant to be a fun time where audiences can escape into their very own French fantasies filled with couture gowns and adventure. It is a look at pure altruism from a woman who finally decides she is going to indulge in herself for once in her life. it feels effortless and knows where it is going with the story. A lot of book adaptations suffer from doing too much but here that is not a problem.