Dedication

Yesterday I found my VHS tape of Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris, filmed in 1992, starring Angela Lansbury, Diana Rigg and Omar Sharif.

Although it's been a while since I've seen it (and I'm on my second viewing in two days now, it's making me feel very nostalgic), I had never forgotten the opening ten minutes of it, and it has been an inspiration to me ever since I saw it.

In the 1950s, Mrs. 'Arris, a middle-aged widow and charwomn, played by Angela Lansbury, sees a Dior dress at the home of her employer, and conceives the ambition that she wants a dress just like it. (Despite the fact that there is no where, in her social circle, that she'd ever have cause to wear the dress.)

At first it's just a yearning. Dior dresses cost 450 pounds (about $900 in 1950s dollars, I think) and there's no way she could afford it - it would take her 20 years of work to earn that much money.

But she's a player of the "pools" - some kind of lottery - and she wins 170 pounds. With that much money in her hand, the unnatainable becomes attainable. She figures out that if she works hard for three years - giving up the movies, riding the bus to work, and the occasional drop of beer (not to mention gin), and taking a second, night job, she will be able to save enough money to nip over to Paris for the day and buy a Dior dress.

And she does. The three years goes fast on screen, of course, we just get a lot of shots of her walking over a bridge in all weathers while a bright red doubledecker bus zooms past her, constant sewing and washing for what is evidently her second job, and constant counting of the money she's earned, which are all going to go to buy her a Dior dress.

Substitute "Losing weight" for a Dior dress, or indeed, substutitute any other ambition for that Dior dress, and you can see how much hard work is necessary to achieve any goal- but it is possible if you do put in that hard work!

A lot of advertising you see says, "Lose weight without any effort" "Easy weight loss". "Never feel hungry."

Those are all bogus claims. If you want to lose weight, you must make the effort. You will feel hungry at times - although of course there is no reason at all to starve yourself...just be aware that if you feel hungry - you're losing weight! While you're in your weight loss mode, it's a good thing!

ANd what's so bad about feeling hungry, anyway? Again - you don't want to not eat until you feel like you're starving - then when you do start to eat you'll stuff yourself. But don't be afraid to go to bed with a couple of hunger pains - in the mornng they'll be gone, or if not gone, you can assuage them with breakfast.

"It's a great life as long as you don't weaken."

(Oh, and just in case you're interested, here's the rest of the plot!

Mrs "Arris gets to Paris and goes to the House of Dior, where she, a mere charwoman, is looked askance upon by all the high class, hoity toity women in the audience. However, the 2nd in command of the House of Dior (Diana Rigg) dislikes the first in command intensely, and when he tells her to throw Mrs 'Arris out, she instead seats her in the first row of the viewing audience, next to Omar Sharif's character. He is a wealthy aristocrat, but is not snobbish with it, and enjoys her innocent enjoyment of the beautiful dresses on display - all the other women being so blase about it.)

After the showing she tries to buy the dress, and is dismayed to discover that the dresses are not "off the rack" - they must be made and this takes 3 weeks worth of fittings to accomplish.

However, Mrs 'Arris has charmed the two worker bees, because when the model came in to the work room to show off the dress she shows how appreciative of it she is, and they promise they'll work night and day to finish the dress in one week. But Mrs. 'Arris has nowhere to stay - she can't afford a hotel room.

Fortunately, at this point the accountant comes in (who is secretly in love with the model) and he is prevailed upon to let Mrs 'Arris stay with him.

As the days pass, Mrs. 'Arris continues to meet Omar Sharif's character. He is estranged from his daughter and granddaughter, so Mrs. 'Arris takes it upon herself to talk to the daughter and persuade her to make the first move - which she does.

In the salon, she comes across Diana Rigg's character crying, shows genuine concern, and learns that Rigg's husband, who was killed in the war, had been executed as a traitor when in actual fact he'd only been pretending to collaborate with the Germans, he was actually a member of the Resistance. Mrs. 'Arris talks to Sharif's character, who talks to the governmetn and gets Rigg's husband's condemnation lifted.

At the same time, the mean ol' Director of the house of Dior doesn't want Mrs 'Arris, a commoner, to have her dress, so the others combine to sneak around behind his back so she can get it. But at the final fittting, he bursts in, orders Rigg give Mrs 'Arris back her money, and tells Mrs 'Arris to get out.

So Mrs. 'Arris is heartbroken and goes into a park to have a good cry. Meanwhile, Rigg's character calls Sharif's character and tells him what happened. Sharif's character happens to be a friend of Christian Dior, le patron, and goes and has a little chat with him.

The upshot is, the Director is fired and Diana Rigg put in his place. And Mrs 'Ariss gets her dress.

Then there's a dream sequence - or is it? - where Mrs. 'Arris is dancing with Omar Sharif at a party he's giving her.

Then she returns to her small flat in London, and she has these happy memories to sustain her for the rest of her life.