In the swirl of excess that is “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” Ciarán Hinds is an atoll of much-needed calm. The Irish actor lets his heavy face and dark eyes convey the weary wisdom of his character, Joe, a maker of ladies’ lingerie in 1930s London.
That city and that war-teetering moment are the setting for this beaten-into-a-hard-meringue comedy, starring Amy Adams as an American starlet in England and Frances McDormand as her accidental handler, Miss Pettigrew.
A disheveled and quite hungry Pettigrew gets sacked by the agency employing her.
“As a vicar’s daughter, I found her rather difficult,” Pettigrew says of the mother of her most recent wards.
“No,” her boss replies grimly, “she found you difficult.”
No Mary Poppins, Pettigrew filches the address of one Delysia Lafosse (Adams), a very busy ingenue and nightclub singer juggling paramours and a career. A case of perfectly awkward timing and a misunderstanding of the job lead Pettigrew to a position as Delysia’s “social secretary.”
Based on Winifred Watson’s novel, “Miss Pettigrew” whips through a 24-hour period in which the elder pragmatist helps the younger ditz (to paraphrase Neil Young, “a girl needs a governess”). Naturally, the young American does something equally transformative for her new personal assistant.
Jazz-combo blasts keep the pacing swift if incessantly bubbly. Director Bharat Nalluri seems to have grabbed hold of Amy Adams’ roots in musical theater too handily.
The movie feels broad and shouted to the rafters. Had it been staged, doors would slam as others swing open, one lover departing as the other arrives.
In Delysia’s case, there’s caddish club owner Nick (Mark Strong); a West End producer pup (newcomer Tom Payne); and Delysia’s darling accompanist, Michael (Lee Pace of ABC’s “Pushing Daisies”).
Adams’ turn in “Enchanted” was a fine complement to the pleasures learned on Broadway. But the gifted actor remains relatively new to film. She deserves a director who understands why her subtler self works well onscreen, even in comedy (see her fine turn in Mike Nichols’ “Charlie Wilson’s War”).
There are movies you hope to like, expect to, even, in part because of who is in them.
McDormand, wonderful in too many films to list (beginning but hardly ending with “Fargo”), looks uncomfortable here. Some of that is the character; Pettigrew is traveling above her station. But the rest of it may be the sinking feeling that the movie isn’t the agile fun that it hoped to be.
“Miss Pettigrew” intends to harken back to a different era of movie magic, fleet of word and deed. Too much here is forced effortlessness, thereby false.
Which brings us back to Hinds. The rugged-faced actor said three sentences at most in “There Will Be Blood” as Daniel Plainview’s right-hand man, another three as the priest in “In Bruges” and perhaps another three as a father in the upcoming war movie “Stop- Loss,” by Kimberly Peirce. Yet he continually leaves an aura of the authentic. His scenes with Miss Pettigrew are a respite for us — and McDormand.
Though he’s engaged to a cliched embodiment of womanhood (the wonderful Shirley Henderson misused), one almost believes that Joe might actually see the truth of Pettigrew, and hanker for it.
“Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”
* *PERIOD COMEDY
PG-13 for some partial nudity and innuendo. 1 hour, 41 minutes. Directed by Bharat Nalluri; written by David Magee and Simon Beaufoy; from the book by Winifred Watson; photography by John de Borman; starring Amy Adams, Frances McDormand, Lee Pace, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Shirley Henderson and Tom Payne. Opens today at area theaters.
