Working girl

A sweet script and a solid title character carry Pettigrew | Megan Basham

Focus Features

Given the title Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day one might at first assume the film (rated PG-13 for partial nudity and innuendo) concerns the pious Miss Pettigrew learning to fling away her stifling virtues in favor of the loose-living mores of the showbiz society she wanders into. But while this 1930s-era comedy of manners could hardly be called deep, it is too thoughtful to fully embrace a theme so shallow.

After being sacked from a series of positions, impoverished governess Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) wrangles an interview with lounge singer and aspiring actress Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). Once there, Guinevere finds the job entails not caring for children but keeping Delysia's many lovers out of each other's paths. Under normal circumstances her moral objections would mandate she refuse the post. But a day spent homeless and hungry on the bread lines convinces Guinevere to relax her standards—if only for a while.