Very rarely in this day and age do we go into a movie not knowing what to expect. The films I love, I at least anticipate liking. The films I know I'll hate, I don't see at the theater, and find I am justified in loathing when I catch the cable premiere some 2 years later, and predictably, the movie blows. Point is, I can generally gauge my reaction to a film (bad, middling, good, awesome) from advance buzz and the trailers, which leave little to the imagination anymore; I am rarely surprised. So I was so delighted by my recent experience seeing Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. I had expected a pleasant 2-hour distraction and instead found a fun, refreshing and at times, surprisingly poignant film. The movie is not a runaway success; it has its flaws. But the experience of being blown away by the unexpected joy of not anticipating what I was seeing more than made up for the disparities in tone and texture.
The basic plot was not a surprise. The several hundred trailers I saw informed me that Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a horrible nanny, is fired, steals a job assignment at the home of Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams) and becomes her social secretary. Delysia wants to be a star and in pursuit of her dream is currently juggling three men. Bachelor #1 is Phil, whom she has just slept with in order to secure the lead in his new musical; Bachelor #2 is Nick, she sings at his club and lives in his apartment; and Bachelor #3 is Michael (Lee Pace, from "Pushing Daisies, didn't realize he was such a dish!), her piano-playing performance partner, who knows the real her, loves her and is trying to convince her to marry him. In the course of the film, Miss Pettigrew gets a makeover, gives sage counsel and provides distractions and excuses to get Delysia out of her various romantic entanglements and lead her toward happiness. The plot also involves socialite Edythe Dubarry and her ex-fiance, lingerie designer Joe Blumfeld; Edythe knows of Miss Pettigrew's true ragamuffin identity and is threatening to tell Delysia if Miss Pettigrew doesn't help her win Joe back.
The film plays like a throwback to 1930's screwball comedies; there's a lot of bustle, sexual entrendres, and a great deal of "hilarity" at Miss Pettigrew's moral astonishment to Delysia's wild and busy social life. The set director has a lot of fun with the mise en scene of the time and Delysia's apartment is a wonderful array of fluffy rugs, pink frilly bathrobes, winding staircases, marble floors, and plentiful cocktails. And of course, a big piano in the middle of the room. Amy Adams is just lovely, costumed is everything from smart blue, fur-lined suit, to sequined gold evening dresses and "Birth of Venus" towel homages. Some of the minor characters are also involved in clothing design so we are treated to 70 year-old lingerie fashion show and a plot point about a pretty silk scarf.As much as I love the period authenticity, sometimes the "screwball" tone just didn't quite play out. The first 10 minutes at Delysia's home are supposed to feel frantic, rushed, and light, but several of the lines felt overwritten, as if they're trying so hard to be frothy, witty exchanges from an authentic screwball comedy that they fell flat and didn't quite reach the audience. There is also the case of nudity, which is not wrong at all, but several minor cases (a hip here, a pair of buttocks there) were distracting from the film as I kept waiting uncomfortably for the nudity to become inappropriate. I sound like a total prude here - it's not that minor nudity is inappropriate for a PG-13 film, but that in the case in of this film it felt out of place and forced, distracting me from the plot and unnecessarily muddying the tone. However, by the time Miss Pettigrew and Delysia officially begin their day together, the film had struck a satisfying balance and seemed in control of its element.
Amy Adams has proven herself a tremendously talented actress, and she acquits herself admirably in this role, balancing the line between conniving social-climber and innocent girl reaching for success. She knows how to play the lightness of her character while also allowing the audience glimpses into her inner struggles and pain. She flirts deviously with her first two suitors, but when faced with the reality of Michael's love, her facade falters. They have a heartbreaking piano duet late in the film (one of the emotional show-stoppers of the film) where I forgive Delysia her faults because she is so clearly torn between her good and bad impulses.
The main surprise of the film was the character of Miss Pettigrew. From previews she came off as somewhat disagreeable, and out of her element in a pathetic, farcical manner. But in fact she is the moral center of the film. Frances McDormand, who deserves all of the credit, grounds her character in a calmness and kind certainty that assert themselves when it's most important. Despite all of the "fish out of water" gimmicks employed by the plot, Miss Pettigrew never becomes a caricature; she often looks a fool and becomes
embarrassed, but supplies the correct advice and is resolute in her morals. This is most evident in her relationship with Joe, the lingerie designer. They are both older, remember the first World War, and are anxious about the coming second. These two have quiet moments of class and grace where we start to hope that Miss Pettigrew might have a romance of her own. This movie will never be a classic, but I remain thankful I saw it. It is a film very much caught up with it's visual and tonal style, which is in itself so much fun to look at, but it also supplies a deeper emotional resonance than I had any right to expect. The lead actresses (including Shirley Henderson's crisp, deliciously devious portrayal of Edythe) anchor the froth with convincing sincerity and I felt more cheerful than I ought when they got their happy endings. Most of all, it was so refreshing to be surprised by a film and find notes I was not expecting.
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