My parents are curious people. They are both native Texans. My mother never set foot in Europe until she was in her 50's. My father still has never gone further from Texas than Alaska. Yet both of them seem to feel more attuned to Great Britain as it was between World Wars than they do to modern America. Growing up, I was surrounded by books by P.G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, and Noel Coward. Musically, I was exposed to lots of Gilbert & Sullivan. And when we watched TV, it was generally "Masterpiece Theatre" rather than "Moonlighting" or "Miami Vice".
So I was pretty sure what to expect when I went to see "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day", and was not disappointed. The music was jazz standards from the 1920's played by an English music hall combo. The decor was nothing but art deco. Older characters dress in drab black and brown, have stiff upper lips, and smoke oddly shaped pipes--the men, that is. Younger characters dress in snazzy jazz-age outfits, call each other "old chap" and "old bean", and smoke cigarettes in foot-long holders--the women, that is. And the humor is very dry, as the writers want you to chuckle a bit and smile, rather than laugh out loud.
The basic plot is 24 hours in the life of Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand), an incompetent nanny who has an unfortunate habit of losing track of her charges, and is paranoid about Germans and criminals. She has just been dismissed by her latest employer after an argument about the morality of alcohol, tobacco, and swearing (she strongly disapproves of all three). Miss Holt--who runs the placement agency--tells Miss Pettigrew quite frankly that she is unemployable.
Desperate for a new job, she steals a card from Miss Holt's desk and winds up at the apartment of Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), an American actress hoping to make it big in London so she will be noticed in Hollywood. Her existence is chock-full of booze, smoke, swearing, adultery, and even an ex-con.
Eventually she makes the acquaintance of dress-designer Joe Blumfield (Ciaran Hinds), and there is an obvious mutual attraction. But unfortunately, he is engaged to Edythe Dubarry (Shirley Henderson), who is blackmailing Miss Pettigrew because she spied Edythe having sex in an alley with another man.
What sets this apart from most British period comedies, is that it acknowledges the grim realities of the Great Depression and World War II beyond "Sir Ashleigh Futzbottom needs to raise a thousand pounds if he wants to marry Lady Flibbertigibbet's niece," or "If old Jerry tries anything, we'll give 'im a good sound thrashing". Miss Pettigrew is homeless, and has a hard time feeding herself (one of the motifs is that each time she is about to take a bite of food, she is interrupted by something). And the day the movie centers on happens to be the eve of the London Blitzkrieg.
I liked this film reasonably well, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't already an Anglophile. But if you're like my mother and think of Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster instead of Dr. House, you'll enjoy it. 7 out of 10.
So I was pretty sure what to expect when I went to see "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day", and was not disappointed. The music was jazz standards from the 1920's played by an English music hall combo. The decor was nothing but art deco. Older characters dress in drab black and brown, have stiff upper lips, and smoke oddly shaped pipes--the men, that is. Younger characters dress in snazzy jazz-age outfits, call each other "old chap" and "old bean", and smoke cigarettes in foot-long holders--the women, that is. And the humor is very dry, as the writers want you to chuckle a bit and smile, rather than laugh out loud.
The basic plot is 24 hours in the life of Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand), an incompetent nanny who has an unfortunate habit of losing track of her charges, and is paranoid about Germans and criminals. She has just been dismissed by her latest employer after an argument about the morality of alcohol, tobacco, and swearing (she strongly disapproves of all three). Miss Holt--who runs the placement agency--tells Miss Pettigrew quite frankly that she is unemployable.
Desperate for a new job, she steals a card from Miss Holt's desk and winds up at the apartment of Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), an American actress hoping to make it big in London so she will be noticed in Hollywood. Her existence is chock-full of booze, smoke, swearing, adultery, and even an ex-con.
Eventually she makes the acquaintance of dress-designer Joe Blumfield (Ciaran Hinds), and there is an obvious mutual attraction. But unfortunately, he is engaged to Edythe Dubarry (Shirley Henderson), who is blackmailing Miss Pettigrew because she spied Edythe having sex in an alley with another man.
What sets this apart from most British period comedies, is that it acknowledges the grim realities of the Great Depression and World War II beyond "Sir Ashleigh Futzbottom needs to raise a thousand pounds if he wants to marry Lady Flibbertigibbet's niece," or "If old Jerry tries anything, we'll give 'im a good sound thrashing". Miss Pettigrew is homeless, and has a hard time feeding herself (one of the motifs is that each time she is about to take a bite of food, she is interrupted by something). And the day the movie centers on happens to be the eve of the London Blitzkrieg.
I liked this film reasonably well, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't already an Anglophile. But if you're like my mother and think of Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster instead of Dr. House, you'll enjoy it. 7 out of 10.