Stars:
***
Rating: PG-13 for some nudity, language and
mature themes
Run Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes
What a
difference a day makes in this cheeky comedy of manners.
Guinevere Pettigrew
(Frances McDormand) is a full-blown failure as a governess – scalding the
porridge, losing her young charges in local parks, etc. The nanny service
refuses to recommend her so as a last resort Miss Pettigrew nips a business
card off the matron’s desk and presents herself at the doorway of one Delysia
Lafosse (the enchanting Amy Adams).
Delysia
isn’t looking for a nanny per se and there’s not a rugrat in sight. Instead the
flighty and flirty ingénue is casting about for a proper social secretary to
make sense of her hectic agenda. Miss Pettigrew to the rescue!
Delysia is
being courted by not one, not two, but three men, each more in love with her
than the last. And Delysia loves them back in her own inimitable style, i.e.
what they can offer her; a nightclub gig from sleazy owner Nick (Mark Strong),
a juicy part from West End producer Phil (Tom Payne) and passion, but poverty,
from handsome accompanist Michael (Lee Pace).
As Delysia
flutters through things Cinderella-style Pettigrew deftly cuts a swath through
her jumbled social clutter that includes a high-end fashion show where
Pettigrew meets designers du jour Edythe Dubarry and fiancé Joe (Shirley Henderson
and Ciaran Hinds), squabbling talents who have a profound impact on Pettigrew’s
tumultuous day. Pettigrew also endures an unexpected makeover while skillfully
choreographing the hazards of Elysia’s romantic roundelay in a manner both
madcap and merry.
London
circa 1939 is not all a bed of roses. War is imminent and those of a certain
age are brought too sharply back to memories of the last big skirmish; a slim
narrative notion that serves as a sobering contrast to its bone-dry English
humor.
The farce
frays a bit at the edges as it telegraphs unmistakable idealisms, a tidy set-to
of boy-meets-girl and girl-reserves-the-right-to-equivocate. McDormand is spot
on as the titular heroine whose witty observations on the subterfuge of love
are the film’s most engaging counterpoint. Adams is Adams, bemused and
beguiling.
A spare
little trifle, clean and sweet.