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Special Features
- Side A: Deleted Scenes
- Miss Pettigrew's Long Trip to Hollywood
- Feature Commentary with
- Director Bharat Nalluri
- Side B: Making an Unforgettable Day
- Feature Commentary with Director Bharat Nalluri
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Based on a 1938 Winifred Watson novel, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a colorful story about lives stalled in middle age but kick-started again by the follies of youthful lovers all around. Frances McDormand stars as Miss Pettigrew, whose inability to hold a job in London as a governess compromises her well-being shortly before England’s entry in World War II. Finessing her way into a position as social secretary to a young, American golddigger and singer named Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), the starving Miss Pettigrew finds herself at the center of a whirlwind that is her new employer’s life. Hemmed in by lovers and suitors--including a young, theatrical producer (Tom Payne) looking to cast one of his pleasing girlfriends in a plum role; a creepy nightclub owner (Mark Strong) in whose flat Delysia lives; and a pianist (Lee Pace) who genuinely loves her--Delysia needs a map to figure out how to navigate through life. Miss Pettigrew, who suffered a loss during WWI that she does not speak of, nudges the naïve songstress toward wise decisions. But she is at the mercy of Delysia’s formidable friend (Shirley Henderson), who knows the truth about her impoverished state and is engaged to a much older man (Ciarán Hinds). The latter, a fellow of substance who seems to be meandering through life, falls instantly for the soulful Miss Pettigrew. Full of Art Deco trappings and paced with a vintage, screwball comedy energy, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is like watching a contemporary version of a Hollywood classic. --Tom Keogh
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Get to Know the cast from Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
 Amy Adams |  Frances McDormand |  Lee Pace |
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Product Description
Academy Award® nominee Amy Adams (Enchanted) and Academy Award® winner Frances McDormand star in this charming comedy about finding a new life and a new love, all in one day. When Miss Pettigrew (McDormand) stumbles upon the chance to become the new "social secretary" to glamorous high-society singer and actress Delysia Lafosse (Adams), she seizes the opportunity despite being totally out of her element. Swept up into the glamorous whirl of high society, it’s all Miss Pettigrew can do to keep up with Delysia as she juggles her lovelife and career in this “delightful champagne cocktail of a comedy!” (Leah Rozen, People).
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is the governess of last resort. No, that doesn't mean she turns naughty children around. In fact, she doesn't seem to be able to keep a job. Fired from her last job, she literally has nothing. And her employment agency is tired of trying to find her jobs. After all, jobs are scarce in 1930's London. Desperate, Miss Pettigrew takes the address of a client, a Delysia Lafoose (Amy Adams).
When Miss Pettigrew arrives at the address, she finds Delysia in crisis. While saving the day, Miss Pettigrew learns that Delysia isn't looking for a governess but a social secretary because they are fashionable.
And Delysia definitely needs help sorting out her life. She's a singer who wants to become an actress. But she's having huge man problems. Specifically, there are three men in her life. There's Phil (Tom Payne), who she has slept with to gain the lead in the play he is producing. There's Nick (Mark Strong), who owns the nightclub where Delysia sings every night as well as the apartment where Delysia lives. Then there's Michael (Lee Pace), a piano player who has proposed to Delysia and has spent the last year in prison waiting for an answer.
Miss Pettigrew is definitely out of her element, but she seems to be helping Delysia juggle everything. Can she keep up and guide Delysia at the same time?
Yes, this movie is a predictable romantic comedy. But the ride is quite enjoyable. The first half is almost farcical in tone with many laugh out loud moments. The second half becomes more serious with fewer laughs but many very touching moments. But by that point you are so invested in everyone's lives you have to stay and see how it turns out.
The acting holds things together perfectly with the entire cast balancing the comedy and emotion. But I've got to praise the two leads. Frances McDormand's facial expressions provide some of the best laughs in the first half. And Amy Adams keeps Delysia from being a mindless fluffy character. Instead, we truly care about her from her very first scene.
While this is a mindless comedy, I think its appeal will skew slightly older. Even with the partial nudity and double meanings, this movie will appeal most to adults and less to the teen and early twenty crowd.
I found this romantic comedy fun and charming and think that any adult will feel the same way.
When Miss Pettigrew arrives at the address, she finds Delysia in crisis. While saving the day, Miss Pettigrew learns that Delysia isn't looking for a governess but a social secretary because they are fashionable.
And Delysia definitely needs help sorting out her life. She's a singer who wants to become an actress. But she's having huge man problems. Specifically, there are three men in her life. There's Phil (Tom Payne), who she has slept with to gain the lead in the play he is producing. There's Nick (Mark Strong), who owns the nightclub where Delysia sings every night as well as the apartment where Delysia lives. Then there's Michael (Lee Pace), a piano player who has proposed to Delysia and has spent the last year in prison waiting for an answer.
Miss Pettigrew is definitely out of her element, but she seems to be helping Delysia juggle everything. Can she keep up and guide Delysia at the same time?
Yes, this movie is a predictable romantic comedy. But the ride is quite enjoyable. The first half is almost farcical in tone with many laugh out loud moments. The second half becomes more serious with fewer laughs but many very touching moments. But by that point you are so invested in everyone's lives you have to stay and see how it turns out.
The acting holds things together perfectly with the entire cast balancing the comedy and emotion. But I've got to praise the two leads. Frances McDormand's facial expressions provide some of the best laughs in the first half. And Amy Adams keeps Delysia from being a mindless fluffy character. Instead, we truly care about her from her very first scene.
While this is a mindless comedy, I think its appeal will skew slightly older. Even with the partial nudity and double meanings, this movie will appeal most to adults and less to the teen and early twenty crowd.
I found this romantic comedy fun and charming and think that any adult will feel the same way.
80 of 87 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Amy Adams. Angelina Joli. Sarah Jessica Parker. Frances McDormand. Odd, huh? Three younger beauties who can act. One maturing woman, not-so-beautiful, can stand equally with them. Star power? Inner beauty? Confidence? Frances McDormand has It which others can see.
"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is a fine vehicle for our Frances. She plays the low-key Miss Pettigrew, freshly out of a job, desperate for a new one in pre-war London, as she has no apartment and no possessions other than what she has on her person. Why can't she keep a job? Because she is painfully truthful!
Through a fluke she acquires the address of a rich, young American singer and inquires within. What this American needs is a therapist/parent. What she gets is Miss Pettigrew, a magical godmother in the guise of "social secretary." You see, Delysia McFosse is morally confused in her quest to be a stage and screen star. She currently is sleeping with three men: one for an apartment and unlimited funds, one for a movie role, and one for fun. The plot suggests that Delysia loves this third one. He definitely loves her!
Circling this bankrupt moral code in a bankrupt time of war is Miss Pettigrew. One follows the code. This is a rule for both society at large and individuals up close. By movie's end Miss Pettigrew has touched and impacted behavioral changes both refreshing and dynamic. Not only does she point Delysia in the right direction, she unexpectedly and inadvertently shows Delysia's cold-hearted, man-eating friend for the scoundrel she is.
In impacting behavior around her, the starving Miss Pettigrew finds herself in dire circumstances once again. Instead of being a fairy godmother, Miss Pettigrew needs someone to watch over her. Someone does come and fulfills her dreams. All's fair in love and war. This is love and it is very fair!! Indeed, in living for a day, Miss Pettegrew will live the rest of her life.
What a charming and delightful movie! Highly recommended!
"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is a fine vehicle for our Frances. She plays the low-key Miss Pettigrew, freshly out of a job, desperate for a new one in pre-war London, as she has no apartment and no possessions other than what she has on her person. Why can't she keep a job? Because she is painfully truthful!
Through a fluke she acquires the address of a rich, young American singer and inquires within. What this American needs is a therapist/parent. What she gets is Miss Pettigrew, a magical godmother in the guise of "social secretary." You see, Delysia McFosse is morally confused in her quest to be a stage and screen star. She currently is sleeping with three men: one for an apartment and unlimited funds, one for a movie role, and one for fun. The plot suggests that Delysia loves this third one. He definitely loves her!
Circling this bankrupt moral code in a bankrupt time of war is Miss Pettigrew. One follows the code. This is a rule for both society at large and individuals up close. By movie's end Miss Pettigrew has touched and impacted behavioral changes both refreshing and dynamic. Not only does she point Delysia in the right direction, she unexpectedly and inadvertently shows Delysia's cold-hearted, man-eating friend for the scoundrel she is.
In impacting behavior around her, the starving Miss Pettigrew finds herself in dire circumstances once again. Instead of being a fairy godmother, Miss Pettigrew needs someone to watch over her. Someone does come and fulfills her dreams. All's fair in love and war. This is love and it is very fair!! Indeed, in living for a day, Miss Pettegrew will live the rest of her life.
What a charming and delightful movie! Highly recommended!
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The lead-in cinematic and musical elements for this delightfully entertaining, fast paced, little bit of nostalgia film prepares the viewer for the story as well as any 'overture' could. The setting is London in the 1930s, the day of the first blitzkrieg, and the tone of the imagery is that quiet depression and angst that tainted the world during that time. We meet our main character Miss Guinevere Pettigrew, a dowdy, middle-aged failed governess as she wanders through the streets and soup kitchens - all to the tune of 'Brother, can you spare a dime'. This 'day in a life' abruptly changes when Miss Pettigrew, still saddened by the loss of her beloved in WW I and struggling to be moral as the daughter of a clergyman in a world gone to tatters. How she finds one day of joy - and in the process changes the lives of those she encounters - is the line of the story, a screenplay by David Magee and Simon Beaufoy based on the novel of the same name by Winifred Watson and directed with a fine sense of timing and comedy cum pathos by Bharat Nalluri.
Quite by a fluke Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) absconds the name of a potential client from her caustic job finder and rings the bell of one Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), a beautiful young American manipulator of men living in one boyfriend's luxurious flat while entertaining others who may help her reach her dream of being a star on the musical stage. Delysia believes Miss Pettigrew to be a social secretary and immediately involves her in the game of her life of flirtation and illusion. Miss Pettigrew, at first shocked by the 'social setting', soon adapts and indeed supports Delysia's efforts of meandering through gentleman callers, and as Delysia finds Miss Pettigrew indispensible she dresses her well and introduces her to a life Miss Pettigrew finds quite foreign but equally fascinating. In rapid fire sequence, at times overlapping like a Keystone Cops movie, we meet Delysia's paramours (played with devilish glee by Tom Payne, Mark Strong, and Lee Pace) as well as high society dames (Shirley Henderson) and the one man who seems above it all - Ciarán Hinds. All of this wild dash through the superficial society affairs is played against the all but ignore threat of the impending WW II and it all happens in one day. But at the end of that day the bond between Miss Pettigrew and Delysia is genuinely sealed and for a moment at least it seems Miss Pettigrew's previously dour existence has changed.
A fine cast, an intelligent director, a creative cinematographer John de Borman, and a well informed musical director Paul Englishby make this bit of froth into a confection that contains some social commentary ingredients. The costumes and sets are splendid and provide a view of London before the devastation of the war that is rich in nostalgia. Not a great movie, but a delightful romp that allows McDormand and Adams the opportunity to demonstrate their considerable comedy gifts. Grady Harp, August 08
Quite by a fluke Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) absconds the name of a potential client from her caustic job finder and rings the bell of one Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), a beautiful young American manipulator of men living in one boyfriend's luxurious flat while entertaining others who may help her reach her dream of being a star on the musical stage. Delysia believes Miss Pettigrew to be a social secretary and immediately involves her in the game of her life of flirtation and illusion. Miss Pettigrew, at first shocked by the 'social setting', soon adapts and indeed supports Delysia's efforts of meandering through gentleman callers, and as Delysia finds Miss Pettigrew indispensible she dresses her well and introduces her to a life Miss Pettigrew finds quite foreign but equally fascinating. In rapid fire sequence, at times overlapping like a Keystone Cops movie, we meet Delysia's paramours (played with devilish glee by Tom Payne, Mark Strong, and Lee Pace) as well as high society dames (Shirley Henderson) and the one man who seems above it all - Ciarán Hinds. All of this wild dash through the superficial society affairs is played against the all but ignore threat of the impending WW II and it all happens in one day. But at the end of that day the bond between Miss Pettigrew and Delysia is genuinely sealed and for a moment at least it seems Miss Pettigrew's previously dour existence has changed.
A fine cast, an intelligent director, a creative cinematographer John de Borman, and a well informed musical director Paul Englishby make this bit of froth into a confection that contains some social commentary ingredients. The costumes and sets are splendid and provide a view of London before the devastation of the war that is rich in nostalgia. Not a great movie, but a delightful romp that allows McDormand and Adams the opportunity to demonstrate their considerable comedy gifts. Grady Harp, August 08
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
I want a day like this
This is a wonderful movie--funny, subtle, meaningful and romantic. It is Amy Adams best performance. Frances McDormand is always amazing.
Published 13 days ago by dinahnsc
5.0 out of 5 stars
Miss Pettigrew review
THis movie is really good. It is heartwarming and also funny. Amy Adams and Frances McDormand are both great! IT is one of my new favs.
Published 19 days ago by Pam J
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful movie
Loved the movie -- had seen it when it was newly released. A real feel good movie. This was a gift for my daughter at her request. This is one of her favorites. Read more
Published 1 month ago by A Blair
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favourite Movie
I love this movie!
I watch it all the time for a good laugh, great music and a beautiful story line.
I recommend this movie to everyone.
I watch it all the time for a good laugh, great music and a beautiful story line.
I recommend this movie to everyone.
Published 1 month ago by Alexandra Ahlfinger
5.0 out of 5 stars
Such a wonderful movie
I absolutely adore this movie. It's frantic at points, sentimental at others, and has amazing characters, dialogue and costumes. Read more
Published 1 month ago by dkelly
5.0 out of 5 stars
One you can watch again.
It's fun and funny ... and heart warming. You'll enjoy it! Does she ever get to eat!!?? Watch and find out! Artistically risqué, but never vulgar, IMO.
Published 2 months ago by Susan E. Morgan
4.0 out of 5 stars
I can not believe anyone would diss this movie!
I have seen this movie many times, and watching the interplay between Amy Adams and Frances McDormand is worth every cent I paid for the movie and every minute I've spent watching... Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. Burdette
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Movie.
I love Lee Pace, but this movie is a great story beyond just a good looking man.
I love Miss Pettigrew! Read more
I love Miss Pettigrew! Read more
Published 2 months ago by okunieda
5.0 out of 5 stars
On My Favorite Movie List
I have seen this so many times and enjoy it as much as the first time I saw it. I used to live in a neighboring town from Frances McDormand so it is even more precious.
Published 3 months ago by Dragon Lady 2
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
One of the best chick flicks to come along in a long time. Cute funny and even has a moral to the story.
Published 3 months ago by Mryna Edington
