Mrs. 'Arris Goes To Paris (1992)

When a cockney charwoman (Angela Lansbury) sees one of her employer's Dior gowns, she becomes determined to own one herself and to that end, saves her money to fulfill her dream of going to Paris and buying a Dior evening gown. Directed by Anthony Shaw (Lansbury's son) and based on the novel by Paul Gallico (who wrote a series of novels featuring the character of Mrs. Harris), this is a perfectly charming low-keyed adult fairy tale. Set in the mid 1950s, the film deviates from the Gallico novel in order to give it a happier, if more conventional, ending. The detail of the period is quite good and, of course, Lansbury is wonderful. The romantic subplot between a top Dior model (Tamara Gorski) and an accountant (Lothaire Bluteau, BENT) in the house of Dior is weak, much more interesting is the elegant widow (Diana Rigg) who supervises the Dior fashion house. With Omar Sharif as a French government official who befriends Lansbury and Lila Kaye as Lansbury's charwoman neighbor.