Set in the inter-war years in London, "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" starts with a look at the title character, Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand), as she struggles to find work after being canned by the drunken matron of the house where she had previously nannied. Forced to visit an employment office, the intrepid heroine is confronted by an ornery white-haired woman who has apparently seen Miss Pettigrew more than a few times in the past due to the young lady's well-intentioned but scatterbrained ways.
But denied access to any prospective employers, Miss Pettigrew steals the card of Delysia Lafosse, a woman with a rich-sounding name who, as it turns out, is looking for a social secretary. After a night spent on the streets, Miss Pettigrew sets out for Delysia's swanky apartment. After pushing her way in, Miss Pettigrew is confronted by the frazzled Delysia (portrayed by a rather annoyingly wide-eyed Amy Adams), an ambitious chanteuse whose involvement sets the story in motion.
As soon as Delysia comes onto the screen, however, any conscious moviegoer who isn't tongue-locked with a significant other should be able to guess what happens next. It's not a hard equation. There are two women -- one is completely lacking of fashion sense, and the other is stylish and beautiful with access to high-class stores where she can charge her heart's desire to her boyfriend's account. Can anyone see these two side-by-side and help but think "makeover"?
Of course, since "Miss Pettigrew" claims to be a comedy, there is, indeed, a makeover -- one featuring lots of red lipstick and '30s-era clothes and even a lingerie show. But beneath the laughter, a rather distinctive undertone of melancholy pervades the film. Little moments of sadness -- Miss Pettigrew is so hungry that she grabs a half-eaten apple from the floor of a train station -- overwhelm the movie's more obviously humorous scenes. We learn that our frumpy protagonist, though sporting multiple lovers, lost her husband, her one true love, in the First World War ; we then discover that Delysia, though flighty, is more complicated than she would seem. And there is also the ever-present specter of World War II -- a threat typified by noisy airplanes flying over the city and air raid drills disrupting everyday life. It's this tonal back-and-forth that makes "Miss Pettigrew" almost impossible to categorize. It's a comedy, but it tiptoes along the edge of the dark side.
If nothing else, "Miss Pettigrew" is a movie that can be enjoyed for its acting. McDormand is wonderfully dissheveled in the title role, and almost unrecognizable from her most memorable turn as the pluckily pregnant sheriff from the Coen brothers' "Fargo" (1996). A brilliantly versatile actress, McDormand somehow manages to make the title character a woman who is both hilarious and tragic.
Amy Adams, too, is an incredible delight. Though I was a bit skeptical of her acting chops at first (Delysia seemed to be a cheap recreation of her over-the-top princess of 2007's "Enchanted"), as soon as she drops her pretenses, Adams can and does sink her teeth into the role. It's not very often that I cry at movies, but during one of Adams' more poignant scenes even I became a tad teary-eyed.
I won't give anything away, but I will say this -- fear not, sensitive cinephiles! Despite its shortcomings, Miss Pettigrew is very satisfying and manages to end happily.
