Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, Shirley Henderson, Lee Pace

Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl o...( read more  read more... )f an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.

Id: 10871062

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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Recent Reviews
  • AgentLexi2132
    November 23, 2009
    AgentLexi2132
    ''Not everything comes along just when we want it. There are times when decisions just have to be made, or you certainly will miss out.''

    Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment ...( read more)catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.

    Amy Adams; Delysia Lafosse

    Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a lovely, quaint film breathing life into the romantic comedy genre. The film shows the benefit of submerging to literature for inspiration and it develops its characters well because of it. Miss Pettigrew and Delysia both possess the characteristics the other lacks and compliment themselves, throughout the entire 90 minute period. Miss Pettigrew effortlessly slides along it's run time, the film utilizes its running length well. It doesn't have to tack any extras on and finishes succinctly on a positive note.
    Jazzed up with an all star cast to boot; Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, Shirley Henderson, Lee Pace, Mark Strong, and Tom Payne.

    The story (all of which takes place in a single day and the following night) follows Miss Pettigrew, a presumably troubled yet effective nanny, as she assists a young actress, Delysia, choose which of the three men she is seeing to marry. I felt compelled to tell you the story because it was difficult for me to follow. Fortunately, this wasn't because the film was convoluted, but it moved quickly. The opening sequence when two of the three men are shown is nearly impossible to follow until one realizes Delysia's promiscuity. This is representative of the film's greatest strength: it's simply fun to watch. One generally doesn't know what will happen next or how poverty-stricken Miss Pettigrew will react in the various wealthy-class social gatherings to which Delysia leads her. As odd as it sounds, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a romantic comedy period piece, a commonly used strategy but a rarely effective one. In most films which attempt this, the primary character finds a love interest and the supportive friend, eventually finds romance as well. The story focuses on the primary romantic interest in the friend instead of the titular character. So, we really hope Miss Pettigrew finds someone and when she does, we feel even more satisfied. She not only helps Delysia, but herself too. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day can easily be interpreted as a lesson on the virtues of giving, or placing others' needs ahead of one's own gains.

    ''I am not an expert on love, I am an expert on the lack of love, Delysia, and that is a fate from which I wish more fervently to save you.''

    The production quality is crisp and clinical, and Director Bharat Nalluri, did a great job creating the elevator as a symbol of the distance between the two women and their lovers. This is cleverly applied as one sees Delysia in the elevator hiding from Phil, unsure about which man she wishes to marry, and then one sees Joe through the elevator which is symbolic of Miss Pettigrew's distance from men. The lighting is mostly high-key, but low key during the bar sequences with carefully placed spotlights. There are few long shots in the film, but a key one occurs when Edyth sees Miss Pettigrew at the beginning. It's a wonderful way to accentuate a scene and heighten its importance for the entire film.

    I highly recommend this film to anyone, whom enjoys romance, comedy or light hearted period films. The witty dialogue, costumes and settings can be appreciated by any film lover.
    I marvel at how such a lovely book published in 1938 receives a film adaptation 70 years later, thus it has even enchanted me enough to hunt down the book due to it's clever storytelling. A definite charmer.

    ''I've been looking for you all night, and I believe, all of my life. If you'll have me.''
  • lewiskendell
    August 14, 2009
    lewiskendell
    This was a alright movie. Francis McDormand and Amy Adams play two very different characters who are actually similar in certain ways. And this allows them to help each other make very important changes in their lives over the course of a very frentic day. Adams flies around the ...( read more)sceen at a breathless, breakneck place, while McDormand is somber and earnest as she gets swept up into the bright lights and parties of high society. It's brief and fluffy and not a bad way to spend a bit of your time.
  • JDFortuneFan
    April 4, 2009
    JDFortuneFan
    A wonderfully enjoyable romantic comedy... With the enchanting Amy Adams, the quirky Frances McDormand and the distinguished Ciaran Hinds, this cute comedy is delightful and entertaining. The glamorous costuming and dazzling sets just had to the overall enjoyment.
  • EarthlyAlien
    January 1, 2009
    EarthlyAlien
    "I am not an expert on love, I am an expert on the lack of love."

    Early in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, the title heroine, played marvellously by Frances McDormand, a down-on-her luck "governess of last resort" who keeps getting dismissed by huffy high-class Lon...( read more)don employers, strolls the streets, dejected and down. On the soundtrack? A jazzy, swinging version of the Depression-era song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" And that sweet-sour mix of bright horns and sad sentiments, swinging tempos and bleak prospects, in many ways sets the tone for the film.

    Photobucket

    Adapting Winifred Watson's 1939 novel, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a nearly perfect piece of entertainment for grown-ups, as Miss Pettigrew's desperation inspires her to fake, fib and flail her way into a job as the social secretary to American actress/singer Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), a young woman in severe need of professional assistance and adult supervision. It's fairly easy to predict the rough curves of Miss Pettigrew's plot within moments of meeting the leads - Miss Pettigrew will gain joy and confidence from her exposure to Ms. Lafosse, while Ms. Lafosse will acquire wisdom and character from Miss Pettigrew's example - but the delights of this film are in the details, and everyone involved shapes this seemingly-featherweight entertainment with expert, steady hands.

    Miss Pettigrew is not, in fact, a social secretary; however, she's prepared to do whatever is required. And so, in her way, is Delysia; the luxurious flat where she receives Miss Pettigrew is, it turns out, not hers. Delysia is staying there as the lover of nightclub owner Nick (Mark Strong), which makes it all the more necessary that Miss Pettigrew help get Delysia's overnight guest Phil (Tom Payne) - son of the producer of a show Delysia hopes to land the lead in - out the door as swiftly as possible before Nick returns. Miss Pettigrew is mortified, but hardly paralyzed, and she swiftly takes charge of matters. And, in the tradition of British farce, as soon as that crisis is averted, another is ready to take its place.

    Directed by Bharat Nalluri (an Indian-born veteran director, virtually unknown outside the B-film and British TV circuits) and adapted for the screen by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) and Simon Magee (Finding Neverland), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day might, at first, seem to hew close to the tone and tenor of well-established master-servant comedies of P.G. Wodehouse, where a flighty, frivolous upper-class protagonist's problems are put right by a steadfast, stalwart domestic; Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, for example. And, in fact, at first Miss Pettigrew seems to have Jeeves' deadpan, and Ms. Lafosse has the scattered thoughts and snug nightgowns of a Wodehouse heroine. But in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Beaufoy and Magee do something much more interesting, and much more inspired.

    Both our leads are in trouble, and both of them are frantic to escape circumstance. Delysia isn't just juggling Nick and Phil, but also dealing with Michael (Lee Pace), her piano player, whose recent thwarted proposal to her resulted in a champagne-fuelled altercation with the Yeoman of the Guard and 30 days in jail. Miss Pettigrew is not only operating on borrowed credentials at a job that shouldn't be hers, but it turns out that she also witnessed up-and-coming fashionista Edythe Dubarry (Shirley Henderson) canoodling with a man other than her fiancée, lingerie designer Joe (Ciarán Hinds). Avidly seeking stardom, Delysia is eager to be discovered; hoping to avoid disaster, Miss Pettigrew is eager not to be.

    And that is the set-up, but that really just provides an arena for McDormand and Adams (and the rest of the supporting cast) to do their stuff. Adams is eager and bright-eyed, like Carole Lombard or another screwball heroine of the film's time; McDormand flips between frantic desperation and struggling to project an image of unperturbed professionalism. Nalluri also understands an often-forgotten principle of comedic construction: For one of your actors to give a scene-stealing performance, there has to be a scene of value for them to steal in the first place. When Nick comes home just after Phil has been ushered out, the combined efforts of Miss Pettigrew and Delysia to hoodwink him are perfectly constructed, as they baffle him with white lies and swiftly arrange excuses and explanations behind his back.

    Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day has moments like that, and other moments providing everything you'd like to see in a bright, brassy showbiz '30s farce: Slammed doors and lucky coincidences; whispered imperatives and triple-layered double-talk; the comedy rule of threes; the low behaviour of the upper class; the moral wealth of penniless persons; the public revelations of private feelings. And there's much comedy wrung from the distance between Miss Pettigrew and Delysia: Offering Miss Pettigrew an adult beverage for a quick shot of fortification, Miss Pettigrew explains she's never had a drink. Delysia is quick to clarify: "Oh, it's not a drink, really; it's a cocktail." And so, down the hatch.

    But Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day also gets energy and power from being honest about when it is set, and when it was written. Miss Pettigrew walks the line at a soup kitchen for the homeless; newspaper headlines threaten war. And at a cocktail party, as the sky is darkened by bombers and the roar of their engines drowns out the music and laughter, the bright young things in attendance gather on the balcony to cheer. Inside, Miss Pettigrew sits, sad and worried: "They don't remember the last one." "No," Joe commiserates, "they don't."

    Moments like that make Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day much more satisfying; we know what's at stake, and so do the characters. And while Adams' giddy, giggling nymph is good for many laughs, she also gets a few richer, deeper moments, too; McDormand also has moments of broad physical comedy (a very rushed clean-up, for example) that she balances with smaller, subtler moments like the play of emotions on her normally stoic face when she realizes things may, in fact, work out for her. Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day may be a fairly small-scale comedy, but it delivers tremendous satisfaction, and that's a victory in and of itself not just for those who made the film but for those who'll see it.
  • her69eyes
    October 3, 2008
    her69eyes
    "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is a perfect example of a film with fairly tedious material completely enhanced with absolute brilliant casting. Whoever's idea it was to pair up the lovable Amy Adams and Frances McDormand should receive all sorts of medals. McDormand, consistent...( read more)ly endearing and perhaps the woman with the best handle on the clueless happy-go-lucky types she's played in "Fargo" and "Burn After Reading", and Adams, who has won over everyone's hearts in everything from "Junebug" to "Enchanted", are charismatic and charming enough to make Ebenezer Scrooge crack a smile.

    The film takes place in London in the 1930's - a country shadowed in poverty and unemployment after the war. But, don't get ahead of yourself, this film is far from gloomy. In fact, it's so cheerful it may make you sick. Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a nanny who has been fired from her agency and finds herself relying on soup kitchens to survive. When she receives an opportunity to steal a job from her former agency, she jumps on it. However, the job is not what she had expected - searching for a gig as a nanny, she finds herself posing as a social secretary of an actress/singer, Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams).

    Thus begins the start of the 24 hour Cinderella story in which Guinevere provides balance for Delysia's lovelife whilst finding one for herself. Delysia's juggling three boyfriends - Nick (Mark Strong), whose place she's sleeping in when we first meet her, Phil (Tom Payne), a producer of a play she's auditioning for, and Michael (Lee Pace), a piano player. Guinevere finds a lovelife of her own when she meets one of the top clothing designers in all of London, Joe (Ciaran Hinds). The ruthless villainness of the story is Edythe (Shirley Henderson, who plays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter story), who owns a clothing store.

    "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is almost surreal in tone throughout it's first half. The complete over-the-top performances, limited sets, and nonstop jazz make you feel like you're watching some sort of play. Fortunately this movie doesn't completely crumble, as Frances McDormand and and Amy Adams are perhaps two of the most capable women of essentially overacting in a completely oddball manner. Film critic Michael Philips puts it best by saying they're performing for the second balcony - it's pace is so upbeat and suave that it's almost difficult to keep up.

    Thankfully, however, the movie does begin to slow down and learn it's pace. We're no longer met with a constant score and squealing women, rather a fairly endearing and completely light-hearted story. You'll react to this in one of two ways - either complete and utter glee and satisfaction, or a burning hatred for such faceless cheer and happiness. You've never seen such an absurdly happy movie... "light-hearted", in this case, is the definition of an understatement.

    While the film is rather irresistible and completely warm, there's still much about it that's completely ingenuine. The previously mentioned over-the-top performances can be distracting as you feel you're watching a cartoon rather than a motion picture. The setting itself can also come off as rather pretentious, especially when accompanied with a constant wit and at times grating endless score. I was begging for some more quiet moments.

    What really makes "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" so magical is how well-intentioned and innocent it is. It's PG-13 due to some sexual innuendos and partial nudity from Amy Adams, but it's so remarkably un-pornographic that I wouldn't even say parents should have much to worry about. This is an enjoyable retelling of the overdone Cinderella story only hindered by sometimes distracting and inconsistent direction.
  • gultenreiz
    December 15, 2009
    gultenreiz
    I had a hard time believing the story, especially the end, but I think this is a fairly enjoyable movie due to pretty good performance from the cast ( that was impressive) and wonderful music, and sometime even comic moments.
    Frances McDormand was quite good as Miss Pettigrew, ...( read more)but Amy Adams was better as the young actress that would do anything to get a part and she still remains likable despite cheating on three different men.
    Light and entertaining.
  • ddyannat
    December 1, 2009
    ddyannat
    Lovely film! She lived for a day which turned out to be only the very first of the rest of her life!
  • amheyalivc
    November 16, 2009
    amheyalivc
    It's so funny. Completely enjoyable.
  • Nenebelle
    November 14, 2009
    Nenebelle
    Recommended by JDFortuneFan.

    Watchable light hearted drama/comedy (not sure what it was meant to be really lol) set in the 1930s,the art deco sets are to die for. Amy Adams was great but overall the movie was nothing special.
  • watsupwithdat
    November 14, 2009
    watsupwithdat
    Wasn't expecting much, saw some ads for it, saw that Amy Adams was in it and IQd it. Was worth seeing Amy Adams tits hang out for the most part and she was nude a few times, but always covered up.
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