Un gran día para ellas

A lot of movie going these days, at least for me, is having seen the best a film has to offer in the television clips/ads. Compare the feeling to being a fish who gets caught on the hook, is reeled in,and quickly finds out the worm wasn't worth the misery of being captured. In a refreshing turn of fate, this was an exception. I took the bait and was glad I did. It offered up a plush background that quickly brought this viewer in to share the experience with the actors. Amy Adams and Frances McDormand created a complex relationship and I quickly felt empathy with their characters. I want to give special notice to Ciaran HInds as Joe Blumfield. He was magnetically appealing. His quiet reserve as Joe, ruggedly handsome,worldly wise, and debonair, is rarely seen in male roles. Let's have more of this! (Oops, I guess you might have figured me for a guy by my review name, papacorn, but I'm solidly female.) I was truly entertained and even enjoyed the music which is of a type I never particularly liked before. I don't think it's meant for children and I'd definitely recommend parental discretion as suggested by the rating.

In London in the beginning of World War II, the middle-aged Miss Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is unemployed and hunger after being fired by her alcoholic employer. The social assistant refuses to offer another employment to her but Miss Pettigrew grabs the address of the American actress and singer Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams) on her desk and heads to Delysia´s fancy apartment. Soon she befriends and is hired by Delysia, a beautiful woman that manipulates her two lovers to live comfortably, sing in a nightclub and be cast for a play. Miss Pettigrew helps Delysia to resolve her affairs and learn that Delysia has a true love, a poor piano player that has invited her to move to New York with him. Meanwhile Miss Pettigrew meets the lingerie designer Joe Blomfield (Ciarán Hinds), who seems to be attracted to her.

"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is a different romantic comedy, supported by a great cast with Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, beautiful costumes and sets and magnificent music score from the 40´s. The plot is well-resolved and the film is entertaining. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Vida num Só Dia" ("The Life in Only One Day")

Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a penniless nanny, currently out of a job. Although she has worked for a placement agency in the past, they give her the cold shoulder this time, mostly because her last three stints as a nanny, with impossible children, fared badly. Absolutely desperate for work, Miss Pettigrew hears of a position as a social secretary as she is walking out the agency's door. Making a beeline to the appropriate home, she encounters the young starlet, Delysia La Fosse (Amy Adams) who asked for her services. But, what doings! Delysia has had a male guest, overnight, who is not the man who owns the flat where she is currently bunking! The interloper must be ushered out before Mr. Moneybags returns or Delysia will be in a heap of trouble. Not missing a beat, Miss Pettigrew gets the situation under control with her innate wisdom. Delysia is grateful. But, the day is only getting started. There is a third man in Delysia's life and the young beauty is juggling suitors in a quest to become a bonafide star of the screen. Not only that, Delysia whisks Miss Pettigrew off to a fashion show and salon, where the new social secretary gets a makeover and meets a rich, handsome man (Ciaran Hinds) with eyes for HER. Is it possible to go from rags to riches in twenty four hours? Definitely, maybe! This is a lovely film with a great plot and a terrific cast. Adams is engaging as the beautiful but mixed-up starlet while Hinds is marvelous as the man who rediscovers what is important in life. The rest of the players are also wonderful, with a word of mention extended to Shirley Henderson for her nice turn as a conniving, inconvenient woman. But, really, this is McDormand's film, as she is the heart and soul of the picture and deservedly so, for her performance is absolutely enchanting and touching. Needless to say, the sets and costumes from the late 1930's are grand and so are the film's art direction and photography. Congratulations are hereby given to the fine, fine script and story, as well. Do you want to experience movie bliss? Then, don't miss Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, as your day will be as bright as newly minted penny, after a viewing.

Welcome to a world of lavish delights. A world filled with fashion shows, cocktail parties, and the latest gossip. This is the world Miss Pettigrew finds her self swept up into, and where she lives her day…to the fullest.

Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a nanny that has just been dropped by her placement agency after being fired for the third time from another displeased client. In her desperation for employment she steals an address card to a new client, and is soon on their doorstep, posing as the new nanny from the agency. This new client turns out to be, Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), a young singer/actress wannabe who is competing for the lead in a big production play. She has no children and wants a nanny more as a secretary or "social secretary" as she later calls Miss Pettigrew. Within a matter of minutes of her arrival Miss Pettigrew helps Delysia outwit two of the three men she is seeing, avoiding a possible catastrophe. This makes Delysia worship Miss Pettigrew and before long she is whisking her away to a fashion show and salon before a cocktail party in the evening.

As the characters play with love like a fine chess game, Miss Pettigrew helps Delysia maneuver through this dazzling champagne 'n' strawberry-drenched world of revelries that the rich use in a desperate attempt to conceal the looming dread of WWII, meanwhile enjoying tidbits of luxuries she would never have dreamed of.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is an absolute delight to watch from the very beginning up until the final end. The production, directing, writing, and acting are all superb as they recreate the WWII era in England.

The acting, well Frances McDormand and Amy Adams as the two leads, need I say more. These two actresses work together so flawlessly. Frances McDormand masters a British accent and gives a performance of layers. Few actresses can play a character that "acts" fakily-sweet and still give such a realistic performance as Amy Adams. Her performance reminded me of her recent golden-globe nominated performance in Enchanted.

Overall this is a charming, delightfully entertaining film with wonderful performances and a sharp script.

This type of movie has simply not been done for 40 or 50 years. Comedy based upon timing, script, and coincidence (the "screwball" part) is very rare.

Unlike today's comedy, based on the outrageous, the actors in this genre have to know how to deliver the lines, keep the pace. The resurrection of a genre.

One of the unusual parts of this film worth noting is the score. The music moves the action a great deal of the time. And the composer kept the sound from the era almost flawlessly: big band jazz of the late 1930's. (there are a couple of slips into later jazz styles, very minor - musicologists may be annoyed - but no one else will notice) The music becomes one of the characters of the plot, interacting almost as much as the actors do. That alone is a brilliant device, tried by many, mastered rarely, especially in period.

Amy Adams and Frances McDormand have a wonderful interplay, both sides of the romantic slide: young, desired, older, having past love by.

great movie if you like your comedy a little faster, but with no one who's eating anything disgusting for a laugh.