MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS

The film's highlights are the wonderful costume designs, an agreeable musical score and a winning Lesley Manville performance.

Before you consider watching Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, keep in mind that the movie caters to a very specific audience. If you are the kind of person who loves wish-fulfilment fantasies that take place in a nostalgic 1950's Paris that never truly existed, this is definitely a movie for you. If that's not your cup of tea: better steer well clear of this.

Based on a popular book about a British housewife who wants to realise her dream of buying a Dior dress, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is filled to the brim with well-meaning characters, happy coincidences and confectionary feelgood episodes.

This makes it a movie that is easy to tolerate but hard to get truly excited about. There are highlights: the wonderful costume designs, an agreeable musical score and some nice performances, led by a winning Lesley Manville who finds hidden depths in what by most accounts is a one-note character.

Still: overall Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a movie that underwhelms nor overwhelms. The picture just... whelms.

release: 2022

director: Anthony Fabian

starring: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Jason Isaacs