Movie review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Written by CUIndependent in Entertainment on Mar 9, 2008 0:00 / comments

A great mood-boosting movie

Sometimes people just need a feel-good movie, and “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” is just that.

The movie takes place on the eve of World War II in London. While the film may take place during a dark time, no one would call this a dark movie.

Delysia Lafosse, played by Amy Adams, scampers around town, switching between her three boyfriends who each offer her a different quality she looks for in a man, be it riches, fame, or true companionship. An aspiring actress, she spends her time going to lingerie fashion shows. She hides behind this adopted lifestyle, and does it well, until the day Miss Guinevere Pettigrew shows up at her door.

Francis McDormand plays Miss Pettigrew, an impoverished governess who will take work anywhere she can get it. She immediately judges Delysia’s lifestyle as unacceptable and flaky, and tries to back out of her duty almost as soon as she arrives at her doorstep.

However, Delysia does not let her go. Miss Pettigrew is swept up in Delysia’s world for a day, and is made over from sewer rat to social secretary in less than 24 hours.

“Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” works well mainly because of the performances of these two women. Amy Adams plays the unethical but lovable Delysia flawlessly from start to finish. She is just the right mixture of annoying and enchanting to fit in with the rest of this historical-fiction fairytale.

The film does not have much more to it than what is presented at face value, but that is what makes it more enjoyable. It does not try to be something that it is not, and that makes it easy for the audience to laugh at the lead female characters without much thought.

For anyone in a bad mood with $8 burning a hole in his or her pocket, this movie is a great way to brighten a bad day.

Contact Campus Press Reporter Emma Dessau at Emma.Dessau@Colorado.edu.

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