Mrs Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Release date: March 9
Certificate PG
Rating ****

The Sun labelled this film: 'The perfect movie for your mum.' Don't let that put you off though.

From the opening credits, it is pure escapism. The audience are thrown into pre-World War-Two London. Poverty and affluence are seamlessly juxtaposed in the smoky ambiance that permeates the film. With original recordings of classic such as Cole Porter's Anything Goes, the film evocatively captures the essence of the time.

Gwendoline Pettigrew is down on her luck. She is dismissed from her job and the employment agency have lost all patience with her. Whilst begging for them to reconsider, she hears of an opening as social secretary for Delysia Lafosse. Desperation and a smidgen of front leads her to the doorstep, claiming the agency sent her.

Academy Award winning Frances McDormand (Fargo) creates a persona that evokes both pity and compassion. She arrives at Delysia's a dowdy ball of misplaced morality. She is immediately swept into the decadent hedonism of London's high society, rather against her will.

Enchanted's Amy Evans plays the role of Delysia. The less tolerant may be put off by how annoying she initially is. Don't be. Persevere, once she gets grubby, it is easier to see her as she truly is. She looks sublime throughout and is a perfect clothes horse for the well executed 30's couture that shimmies throughout the film. The rather cliched and predictable makeover that Gwendoline receives saves itself by being a perfect forecourt to parade the heady fashion of this era. It also means that she stops offending our eyes.

David Magee and Simon Beaufoy wrote the screen-play based on a novel by Winifred Watson. Their style is intoxicatingly sugar sweet and razor sharp. Delysia's comment on Mrs Pettigrew's attire that prompts the makeover: 'You look like Oliver Twist's mum.' is so subtle that it takes a moment to register just how cutting she is. As she lovingly grabs her arm, it is also not entirely obvious if she is even aware of it.

What need does Delysia have for a mousy little social secretary? Well, apart from the fact that her rival has one, her outlandish American manners and healthy libido have caught the attention of many admirers. Some would say too many. She is also desperate to be a singer-cum-dancer-cum-actress-cum-anything and is not above sweetening the deal at auditions. Admittedly, she has got herself into a bit of a pickle.

Yummy eye candy abounds in the delectable form of Lee Pace and Mark Strong to name but two. Mrs Pettigrew, daughter of a clergyman, grudgingly helps her start to make sense of her torrid love life. From this blossoms the most unlikely friendship that, in the backdrop of a breaking war, explores the old adage: carpe diem.

It would not be a story without some nasty bitch coming in and trying to balls everything up. Shirley Henderson revels in the role of duplicitous designer who is prepared to use anyone to get where she wants. She and Gwendoline come head to head with surprising conclusions.

At the end of the film, it is hard to believe that so much has happened in 24 hours. Mrs Pettigrew Lives for a Day is about pretending to pretend and somehow finding a poignant truth along the way. It won't necessarily change your life but its heartfelt sentiments may make you feel warm and fuzzy for about half an hour.