Friday, August 5, 2011

Friday Flix - Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day

   This film was originally a book published in 1938 and was very popular at the time.  It was scheduled to become a film however with the start of WWII it was put on hold.
   When people ask what my favorite film is, it's pretty much impossible to say.  However, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is probably a front runner for the title-I could seriously watch this film on a weekly basis. Along with Whip It! it is one of my never fail "cheererupper" movies.
   To me, this film has everything.  I grew up watching a lot of films from Hollywood's golden age and I think that has a strong influence on my perspective on movies.  Miss Pettigrew takes place in pre WWII London.  What I love about this film is that it is at once completely modern and flawlessly vintage. The cast is wonderful-Amy Adams as Delysia Lafosse simply shines and Frances McDormand's Miss Pettigrew is both funny and profoundly insightful.
   Miss Pettigrew is an out of work nanny who happens into her job as a social secretary for Delysia LaFosse quite by accident.  Delysia is a lovely and talented singer, hopelessly with a hopelessly flawed love life.  She lives with the owner of the nightclub where she sings, she's having a fling with a Broadway producer in hope that he casts her in his next show, and her accompanist Michael tells her he loves her-and all in one day.  What's a girl to do?  Enter Miss Pettigrew.  While at first glance it may sound petty, but there is much much more than what meets the eye.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Persephone Classics)Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Persephone Classics)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Widescreen & Full Screen Edition)Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Widescreen & Full Screen Edition)

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