movie: Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
Aug. 21st, 2008 02:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreAm I terribly old fashioned?
Indeed you are. And all the better for it.
Set in London shortly before WWII, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is about Guenevere Pettigrew, a frumpy vicar's daughter who is a governess. Except, she's not a very good governess. Fired by her last employer and thrown out without a penny, she spends the night on the streets, only to be told by her employment agency that she is now considered to be unemployable the next morning. In desperation, she snatches a card off the manager's desk while no one is looking, and presents herself at the door of Delysia Lafosse, a night club singer who dreams of going to Hollywood. Except that Delysia doesn't need a governess, she needs a social secretary. Mostly to manage her love life.
First, there's Phil, the son of a producer who is about to produce his first play himself. Delysia sees him as a sweet boy, but one whose main purpose is to get her a starring role. Phil is a sweet boy who has very little upstairs and needs to fill up that space before some aspiring actress notices the "for rent" sign and uses him for all he's worth. Then there's Nick. Nick runs the nightclub Delysia sings at and keeps her as his mistress. Nick is obviously not a Nice Man, but very much the kind of man a girl like Delysia can't resist, no matter how much she may want to. Finally, there's Michael, who has loved Delysia for years (even to the point of being in jail for a year over it) and stood by her, but is tired of waiting for her to get through playing games, and gives her the ultimatum of going to New York with him or saying good bye forever. The choice Delysia should make is obvious, it's just whether or not she'll make the right choice.
Navigating her way through Delysia's tangled love life (and saving her from exposure) Guenevere finds herself drawn into Delysia's glamorous world, despite the fact that it challenges every one of her Victorian beliefs, and befriending her fluffheaded employer, who is her opposite in every way. Meanwhile, Guenevere herself finds herself falling for Joe, and undergarments designer who is on the outs with his snide designer fiance. I forgot the character's name, so we'll just call her Shirley, as she's played by Shirley Henderson. Where everything is going is obvious from the start, it's just getting there that's the fun.
Though Frances McDormand as Guenevere and Shirley Henderson and all the various love interests all do great jobs, it's not really surprising that Amy Adams steals the show as Delysia. In general, I tend to think it isn't hard to play characters who aren't that bright, be they sweet or offensive. But to play a seemingly empty-headed girl who is carrying on with three men and keeping two in the dark about it, and to be completely flighty, yet to play the character as complex, loveable, and sympathetic? That takes skill. It is, I think almost impossible to dislike Delysia. The movie is clear from the start that the way she's living her life is wrong. Not in the moral sense (though there is that), but in that it's a bad life for her that is unfair to her, Phil, and Michael. I'd include Nick, but he's your typical domineering boyfriend (in this type of thing) who treats her like property. And yet, she's so helpless and in need of something real that you can see why Guenevere, who is opposed to everything she represents, instinctively helps her. In complete honesty, I think that denying Delysia when she needs help would be rather like picking up a puppy or kitty staring at you with begging eyes, and literally throwing them in the rain and slamming the door.
That, ultimately, is what the movie is really about, despite the (quite good) romantic trappings: two women who are opposites in every possible way coming to terms with what they want and getting the strength to go after it through their friendship. Because of Guenevere, Delysia is able to realize that what she really wants isn't what she thinks she wants, and because of Delysia, Guenevere is able to experience a side of life she never had before, and to realize her own shortcomings, and come to terms with part of her past.
I'm curious, though, about whether or not the air raids are a part of the original book. Especially so given that, when written, there's an element to the end that, from our modern perspective, knowing what happens after this, may not have been in the original work.
And now to acquire a copy of the book for myself.
Indeed you are. And all the better for it.
Set in London shortly before WWII, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is about Guenevere Pettigrew, a frumpy vicar's daughter who is a governess. Except, she's not a very good governess. Fired by her last employer and thrown out without a penny, she spends the night on the streets, only to be told by her employment agency that she is now considered to be unemployable the next morning. In desperation, she snatches a card off the manager's desk while no one is looking, and presents herself at the door of Delysia Lafosse, a night club singer who dreams of going to Hollywood. Except that Delysia doesn't need a governess, she needs a social secretary. Mostly to manage her love life.
First, there's Phil, the son of a producer who is about to produce his first play himself. Delysia sees him as a sweet boy, but one whose main purpose is to get her a starring role. Phil is a sweet boy who has very little upstairs and needs to fill up that space before some aspiring actress notices the "for rent" sign and uses him for all he's worth. Then there's Nick. Nick runs the nightclub Delysia sings at and keeps her as his mistress. Nick is obviously not a Nice Man, but very much the kind of man a girl like Delysia can't resist, no matter how much she may want to. Finally, there's Michael, who has loved Delysia for years (even to the point of being in jail for a year over it) and stood by her, but is tired of waiting for her to get through playing games, and gives her the ultimatum of going to New York with him or saying good bye forever. The choice Delysia should make is obvious, it's just whether or not she'll make the right choice.
Navigating her way through Delysia's tangled love life (and saving her from exposure) Guenevere finds herself drawn into Delysia's glamorous world, despite the fact that it challenges every one of her Victorian beliefs, and befriending her fluffheaded employer, who is her opposite in every way. Meanwhile, Guenevere herself finds herself falling for Joe, and undergarments designer who is on the outs with his snide designer fiance. I forgot the character's name, so we'll just call her Shirley, as she's played by Shirley Henderson. Where everything is going is obvious from the start, it's just getting there that's the fun.
Though Frances McDormand as Guenevere and Shirley Henderson and all the various love interests all do great jobs, it's not really surprising that Amy Adams steals the show as Delysia. In general, I tend to think it isn't hard to play characters who aren't that bright, be they sweet or offensive. But to play a seemingly empty-headed girl who is carrying on with three men and keeping two in the dark about it, and to be completely flighty, yet to play the character as complex, loveable, and sympathetic? That takes skill. It is, I think almost impossible to dislike Delysia. The movie is clear from the start that the way she's living her life is wrong. Not in the moral sense (though there is that), but in that it's a bad life for her that is unfair to her, Phil, and Michael. I'd include Nick, but he's your typical domineering boyfriend (in this type of thing) who treats her like property. And yet, she's so helpless and in need of something real that you can see why Guenevere, who is opposed to everything she represents, instinctively helps her. In complete honesty, I think that denying Delysia when she needs help would be rather like picking up a puppy or kitty staring at you with begging eyes, and literally throwing them in the rain and slamming the door.
That, ultimately, is what the movie is really about, despite the (quite good) romantic trappings: two women who are opposites in every possible way coming to terms with what they want and getting the strength to go after it through their friendship. Because of Guenevere, Delysia is able to realize that what she really wants isn't what she thinks she wants, and because of Delysia, Guenevere is able to experience a side of life she never had before, and to realize her own shortcomings, and come to terms with part of her past.
I'm curious, though, about whether or not the air raids are a part of the original book. Especially so given that, when written, there's an element to the end that, from our modern perspective, knowing what happens after this, may not have been in the original work.
Michael and Delysia go to New York, where they'll be safe from the war. Joe and Guenevere, however, stay in London, which will soon be completely caught up in the war. This is especially poignant as Guenevere lost her first love in WWI.
And now to acquire a copy of the book for myself.
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Date: 2008-08-21 07:36 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-08-22 03:45 am (UTC)The ending is *quite* different too. And in a good way.
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Date: 2008-08-22 03:50 am (UTC)