PREVIOUS ISSUES : CULTURE : Movies Last Updated: April 16, 2008 - 11:22 AM   Heart Topic By Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff Published: March 12, 2008   Email this article   Printer friendly page   More than just another date movie. Like all critics, my heart is petrified coal, as cold as outer space, as “I hope no one is spying on us,” Frances McDormand prays. juiceless as a wrung orange and as lifeless as an ancient monument whose stone chambers whistle with sharp winter wind. It goes without saying, then, that the mere depositing of a film into a genre that goes by the often misrepresentative heading of “romantic comedy” constitutes for me, in and of itself, an epithet of the highest order. And yet Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, a film that fits the designation, has pierced my brittle bone cage, sought the stone and set its greaseless gears grinding again. And it ran for many minutes after the film ended too. Miss Pettigrew Lives is a screwy romp of a period piece that stars Frances McDormand (Fargo) as Miss Guinevere Pettigrew. Pettigrew is a governess in pre-WWII London whose inflexibility in moral matters has left her unfairly unemployed for the umpteenth time. In a moment of desperation, she swipes a business card from her former employer and is led to the residence of aspiring starlet Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), and thus into a very full day of confusion, deceit, backstabbing and, yes, love. What’s admirable about Miss Pettigrew Lives is that it’s so believable— MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY Directed by Bharat Nalluri Written by David Magee and Simon Beaufoy, based on the novel by Winifred Watson With Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Payne, Lee Pace and Mark Strong UA DeVargas 92 min. PG-13 even while being completely implausible. The amount of men Delysia juggles in these 12-or-so hours would require more arms than a Hindu god. Deep loves are formed, makeovers had, parties attended and schemes hatched. And that’s all before afternoon tea (minus the crumpet, as Pettigrew can’t seem to get a bite in anywhere). The chemistry between the actors is so strong that we believe the loves, despise the villains and empathize thoroughly with the heroines. Adams (Junebug) is terrific as the ditsy, class-climbing diva Delysia, who skillfully pilots into high farce and yet, somehow, returns to believable dramaturgical grounds. McDormand, whose hair—a mass of dry, frizzled split-ends—could tell her character all by itself, doesn’t let it. Her out-of-place nervousness is palpable, her earnestness real. The actors’ work is facilitated by loads of clever writing, true character development and witty, enjoyable banter. The champagne-dizzy pace is propelled by a brassy, uptempo, true-era soundtrack. The costuming and impeccably detailed period décor allow one to fully dissolve into the suspension of disbelief. Miss Pettigrew Lives is as light as the bubble bath in which Delysia soaks early in the film, but underneath the effervescence there’s something naked and human and true. It’s about playing parts and being authentic; it’s about love as salvation in lives that are altogether too short. When the B-52s hum in the sky, it’s time to start thinking about what matters. © Copyright 2000-2008 by the Santa Fe Reporter Save This Page to del.icio.us Top of Page