YOU CALL IT PATINA, I CALL IT TARNISH

Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day
Director Bharat Nalluri
Writers David Magee and Simon Beaufoy

Cast Amy Adams (Delysia Lafosse); Shirley Henderson (Edythe Dubarry); Ciarán Hinds (Joe); Frances McDormand (Miss Pettigrew); Lee Pace (Michael); Tom Payne (Phil Goldman); Mark Strong (Nick)

Plot Summary Guinevere Pettigrew is a middle-aged London governess and a complete failure in her profession. Finding herself jobless, homeless and friendless, she inveigles herself as social secretary to starlet Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). She soon discovers that she has become involved in a lovers’ roundelay involving Delysia, her three suitors and Edythe Dubarry (Shirley Henderson), London’s premier dressmaker and supreme gossip.

If you have dangerously high blood pressure, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or are just easily scared, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is the movie for you. Not only will you avoid the risk of precipitating even the most minor medical crisis, you may actually accrue unexpected psychic balm from the soothingly predictable, tried and true, reliable-as-Lassie nature of this film. The reflexive banality of Miss Pettigrew is reassurance that the dusty corner of CinemaLand devoted to tasteful period romances remains untouched by the winds of time or the dogs of war or even the new paradigm shift. Pardon my clichés – and blame Miss Pettigrew.

Researching the idea of cliché led me, via Wikipedia, to “thought-terminating cliché”. What a lovely turn of phrase! Here’s the link, which contains a list of some of the offending phrases:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9

But back to the task at hand. The charm of Pettigrew is its three lead actresses, who clearly relish the challenge of filling out the time-frayed contours of the golddigger with the heart of gold (Adams), the put-upon mousy governess (McDormand), and the stylish but shallow socialite (the delicious Shirley Henderson). Adams and Henderson are particularly delightful, the first for her expertly charming mixture of Betty Boop and Debbie Reynolds and the second for her highly stylized, almost Erté-esque socialite, all slink and moué and insinuation. Both actresses deserve a better, more challenging movie. So does McDormand, who has some very funny moments but is mostly a sounding board for her co-stars. Mark Strong, Lee Pace and Ciaran Hinds are the manly side of the picture, Hinds being the standout for contriving to make the entirely improbable acceptable in his role as Henderson’s straying fiancé.

When I bought my ticket, I noticed that the senior citizen price was a full four dollars less than my absurd $11.25 stinger. I thought “How lovely to be retired! I can hardly wait.” I do love a discount, but if Miss Pettigrew is what I have to look forward to I plan to be a full-price model for as long as I can.
Rating 2.5 out of 5