MRS Harris is off to Paris this week and it’s far from her first trip. Indeed, Anthony Fabian’s new film marks the fourth screen adaptation of Paul Gallico’s original novel since its 1958 publication.

While Gracie Fields, Inge Meysel and Angela Lansbury each brought Ada Harris to life for television, however, the honour of debuting the character on cinema screens falls upon The Crown’s Lesley Manville. Oft overlooked, Manville has long been a peerless talent. To Stefan Golaszewski’s BBC series Mum, she made an art of understatement. For her role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, she came within a hairs width of clinching an Oscar.

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris - Gallico’s novel dropped the ‘H’ - finds Manville at her most delicately endearing. That she counts Lambert Wilson and Jason Isaacs among her co-stars here only adds fizz to the effervescence she supplies. Isabelle Huppert also features but it’s not her best work. Rather too caricatured.

That’s not to say Manville’s efforts here are short of heft. In a film so feather light that a strong wind might prove threatening, Manville brings a dramatic core and is wholly grounding. It’s a refreshingly simple premise that gives her Mrs Harris a goal and the single-minded will to achieve it.

For those who missed her earlier iterations, Ada Harris is a widower in late 1950s London. She’s a ‘Salt of the Earth cleaner and a little bit of a ditz.

It’s while on a cleaning job for one of her wealthier clients that Ada first encounters the work of Christian Dior - specifically a haute couture dress handmade in the French fashion Mecca.

Such is Ada’s instant adoration of the dress that she finds herself instantly compelled to buy one for herself and from Paris no less.

The Dior she finds there is one hit by hard times. With the workforce threatened with redundancies, Ada proves herself a champion of the everyday folk.

It’s a tale of love, loss and a little philosophy. There’s plenty to like here and a cheery air to put a spring in your step as the nights draw in outside the auditorium.

The setting is lushly mid-century and it’s a coup that sees the production boast 11- times Oscar winning designer Jenny Beavan as is costumer. You’ll be booking a trip to Paris yourself!