Build a Life on Authentic Love


“He smiled whenever he saw me. And we could have built a life on that.”
Frances McDormand, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

In the 2008 English film Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Frances McDormand plays Guinevere Pettigrew, social secretary to Delysia LaFosse (Amy Adams) for one incredible day. Delysia is a night club singer in 1930s London, and she’s busy juggling three men: Nick, her boss at the Scarlet Peacock Night Club; Philip, a West End Play Producer; and Michael, a penniless piano player. She’s also busy trying to escape from her true self: Miss Sarah Grubb of the Pittsburgh Grubbs.

Both Nick and Philip allow Delysia to indulge her fantasy of mega-stardom as they provide her with luxury and the promise of a glamorous future. Neither knows that she comes from a lower class family amidst the American steel mills, and neither would pursue her if they did know. Michael, on the other hand, knows and loves the Sarah Grubb who’s hiding under the elegant make-up of Delysia LaFosse. He loves Sarah for who she is, not who she’s pretending to be. He believes he’s the greatest piano player and that Sarah is the greatest singer; and together they can rule the world.

Unlike Nick and Philip, however, Michael can’t promise Delysia/Sarah anything but love and his determination to create a better life for her. This is good enough for Sarah, but sadly, it isn’t good enough for Delysia. Sarah wants her authenticity back and she loves Michael, but Delysia wants the penthouse, the designer fashions and her name in stars. And Delysia is willing to compromise herself in any way to get what she wants until Miss Pettigrew brings her back to earth.

In many ways, the much older Miss Pettigrew has been a fake herself. She was raised by a clergyman and allowed him to make her over as the proverbial schoolmarm. Prior to meeting Sarah, Miss Pettigrew had never experienced life through the eyes of a Delysia LaFosse before. So in their one day together, Delysia helps Guinevere to blossom on the outside while Guinevere helps Delysia to blossom on the inside. As Guinevere learns that her inner-beauty needs to radiate to the surface of her skin and that it’s OK to be sensual, Delysia learns that there’s more to beauty than her surface shows and that lasting beauty, the type that a man will love her for over a lifetime, comes from within.

As the film reaches its climax, we learn that Guinevere had been in love once in her life, with the man who smiled whenever he saw her; but he was killed in the fields of France during World War I. She lost the man she loved, but she understood that an entire life could be built on real love between two people. And with World War II looming, she helps Delysia see the same truth. As a result of the soul makeover she receives from Guinevere, Delysia throws away her mask and becomes Sarah again. She accepts Michael’s proposal for a lifetime together back in the States and the two head to New York.

As for Miss Pettigrew, well, she too finds a new romance. During her wild and wooly day with Delysia, she meets a fashion designer by the name of Joe Blumfield. Joe sees through Guinevere’s rough old maid exterior to the genuineness of her soul immediately. And thanks to Delysia’s efforts to help Guinevere bring her inner-beauty to the surface of her skin, Joe pursues Guinevere. The attraction is mutual. Joe and Guinevere smile whenever they see each other and—in the end-- they choose to build a life on that. Think about it and do the same! Real beauty always comes from within.


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