'Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day' is hardly a catchy title, but somehow it works. Like, 'Mrs Henderson Presents', the film captures the whimsical tone of the British upper-class on the cusp of the Second World War.

Miss Guinevere Pettigrew (Francis McDormand) is an out-of-work governess, whose sanctimonious attitude has left her standing in line at a soup kitchen. Drab, unrelenting and just a little bit self-righteous, Miss Pettigrew eventually tries the patience of her employment agency, which refuses to give her another job. Desperate, she steals the name of a new employer — Delysia Lafosse — and pretends that she has been sent by the agency.

As it turns out, the glamorous Delysia (an enchanting Amy Adams), is not in search of a governess, but of a 'social secretary'. Her frumpy, disheveled appearance aside, Miss Pettigrew turns out to be perfect for the job.

With her brisk, no-nonsense attitude she juggles Delysia's three lovers — the rich but cold club owner, Nick (Mark Strong); the playboy producer Phil (Tom Payne) who promises Delysia a part in his new play; and the poor, but genuine (not to mention gorgeous) Michael (Lee Pace) — dispensing advice, life-lessons and a few disapproving looks along the way.

As Miss Pettigrew 'fixes' Delysia's life, she undergoes a transformation of her own. Under the hands of Delysia's 'friend' Edythe (Shirley Henderson of Moaning Myrtle fame) she sheds her drab browns and emerges a glamorous and confident (but still very hungry) woman. In the face of so much duplicity, with the threat of another war looming, Miss Pettigrew may just have found love in the figure of Edythe's fiancé Joe Blumfield (Ciaran Hinds).

The light touch, comic relief, and flawless performances by McDormand and Adams ensure that director Bharat Nalluri's delightful adaptation of Winifred Watson's 1938 novel is charming diversion into a world which is not entirely frivolous.