Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)

“Every woman will have her day.”

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Set in London at the break of WWII, Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand), an unemployed governess, is on her last chance for employment and finds herself at the door of Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). Miss Pettigrew almost immediately becomes a part of the whirlwind society mess that is Delysia’s life, and Delysia hires Miss Pettigrew as her social secretary to aid her in her ambitions to climb the society ladder. Delysia’s quest to put her name in stage lights leads her to sleep with Phil (Tom Payne), the producer of a West End production in the bed of Nick (Mark Strong), a nightclub owner whom Delysia also has intentions with, all the while ignoring Michael (Lee Pace), her piano player, the only man who has the potential to give her a happy and fulfilling life despite not being able to provide Delysia with what she seeks from Phil and Nick. In the course of 24 hours, Miss Pettigrew is called upon by Delysia and other socialites to smooth over hiccups in various relationships, and Miss Pettigrew finds herself discovering things about the ersatz world Delysia is part of as well as the truths of the heart.

I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day solely because Lee Pace was in it, and as he is adorable in Pushing Daisies, I figured if nothing else, he would give a good performance. That he did – I loved him as Michael, and I adored his accent! The rest of the cast was great as well. Amy Adams was perfect as Delysia, the seemingly foolish socialite sleeping her way to the top, but very aware that she had very little of her own to claim in the world, and Frances McDormand was the quintessential English governess from the 1940′s. I loved the costumes and setting as well, it was exactly how I’d imagine London at the break of WWII, and the socialite scenes were done perfectly – they reminded me of some of the socialite scenes in Gossip Girl, except in a different era, of course! The story was also really good, it was simple and to the heart. Elements of it reminded me a little bit of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, actually.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Tags: movies