A dress by Dior

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Movie
Original title A dress by Dior
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1982
length 103 minutes
Rod
Director Peter Weck
script Robert Muller
production Karlheinz Brunnemann
Hans Redlbach
for Phönix Film
music André Bauer
camera Klaus Koenig
cut Helga Olschewski
occupation

A Dress by Dior is a German TV film directed by Peter Weck in 1982 . It is based on the 1958 novel A Dress by Dior ( Flowers for Mrs. Harris ) by Paul Gallico .

action

Doris Harris lives in London and earns her living as a cleaning lady in three households: with the musician Peter, the wealthy Matthews family and the unsuccessful actress Pamela. Peter is also involved in semi-criminal business. The Matthews family believes they are progressive because they throw punk parties and promote equality, but treat Doris like a third-class person. Pamela, on the other hand, allows herself to be exploited and endured by the men, never has money to pay Doris and yet constantly lives beyond her means. Doris is happy with her life, has enough money to feed her cat, buy flowers and go out with her friend Edith Butterfield every now and then.

One day she sees a beautiful dress in Eileen Matthews' bedroom, which she puts on ecstatically. Eileen told her that there was a dress by Dior was, haute couture , and about 1,600 pounds have tasted. Doris also wants a Dior dress. She begins to save money, takes on additional jobs, and denies herself every little joy in life. She goes to dog races with Edith and her friend Washington, but does not bet on the winner, but on a dog called "Haute Couture" and loses 50 pounds. She now resolves to only earn her money honestly. At a party hosted by the Matthews family, however, she lets herself be carried away to the game of poker and by chance wins over £ 500. At the end she hands it over to Peter, who promises her to double the amount through his contacts.

Doris books her flight to Paris and although Peter is arrested by the police for criminal activities, he has increased her money as promised and left her hidden in the house. Doris flies to Paris with her cash and goes to the Dior headquarters. She innocently wants to see the clothes there and begs the head of the house, Constance Colbert, until she lets her take her place in a fashion show planned for the afternoon in the house. Here Doris makes the acquaintance of her seatmate Earnest Earl of Wereford and finally sees the dress of her dreams. She wants to buy it right away, but it's a model dress that first has to be made for her. Doris is devastated because she has to take her cheap flight back to London the next day.

There are numerous supporters: Earnest Earl of Wereford takes on the task of rebooking their flight. Constance orders to make the dress for Doris in just three days. The Edmonde bookkeeper, in turn, lets her live in his house for this period. He is in love with model Natascha, who presented the dress at the fashion show. Natascha, however, is also ensnared by the much older earnest. In the next few days, Earnest, Edmonde, Natascha and Doris go on excursions through Paris. Doris couples Natascha and Edmonde and makes it clear to Earnest that he is actually too old for Natascha. Earnest gives way. Three days later, Dior's dress is ready and Doris happily tries it on. She is now rushing back to the airport. During the flight, she happily reports to a stewardess that she bought a Dior dress. The woman points out that Doris would have to pay customs for the dress. Doris, however, only has two pounds with her. The thought of having to leave the dress at customs makes her sad. However, she chooses honesty. She reports the dress to customs, but the officer believes she is trying to make fun of him and lets her go unmolested.

At home, Edith and Washington wait for Doris to marvel at the dress. The next day Doris goes cleaning as usual. Pamela is in a panic because she has an important appointment with an advertising man who already knows her in all her clothes. Doris offers her her Dior dress for the evening. The next day she finds her dress with large burn marks in Pamela's apartment. She is traveling and has left her a note: The man tore her dress off her body and threw it in a corner - on the heater. Maybe it can be repaired. Disaffected, Doris gives up her job with Pamela and returns home with her holey dress. She puts it in the Dior box and stows it under her bed. Only now does she see that she has received mail: Natascha invites her to her wedding with Edmonde and has enclosed a photo showing Doris with Earnest at the Paris flower market. Doris looks proudly at the photo and tells her cat that these are her friends.

production

Director Peter Weck already knew the leading actress Inge Meysel from various films that were made under the direction of her husband John Olden . A Dior dress was filmed on location in London and Paris. The shooting went largely without any problems, but there was minor friction between Weck and Meysel because of "their peculiarity of always wanting to have a say or to make directorial suggestions", so Peter Weck in his memoirs .

Eva Sheppard created the costumes, while Christian Dior's dresses were made by Marc Bohan , Dior's chief designer at the time. The film was first broadcast on December 29, 1982 on ARD.

criticism

TV Spielfilm wrote: “Peter Weck put the story into practice so carefully that only Inge Meysel fans will like it. Conclusion: Already before, hardly any material for dreams. "

literature

  • Paul Gallico : A dress by Dior. Roman (original title: Flowers for Mrs. Harris ). German by Jutta and Theodor Knust. 584th - 589th thousand. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1988, 138 pages, ISBN 3-499-10640-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Weck: Is that it? Memories . Amalthea, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-85002-721-2 , p. 242.
  2. ↑ See tvspielfilm.de