Mr. Blake at Your Service Review – Excellent, A Delightfully Charming Feel Good Film
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Wednesday, 01 October 2025 10:28
- Written by Janet Walker
Mr. Blake at Your Service, from Vertigo Releasing, presents a charming dramatic comedy as a successful English widower takes a job as an English butler in the French mansion where he first met his wife.
The film begins in London, where Andrew Blake, played by John Malkovich is being honored as man of the year at the innovation awards. His dear friend, Richard Ward, played by Al Ginter, is on the phone trying to persuade him to show up for the ceremony that everyone is gathered to honor him for his business prowess.
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As a widower, now for four months, Andrew only desires to return to the place where they first met, to relive those magical moments. And so, we see, him packing and the next morning, he is off to the French countryside.
When he arrives, the mansion is somewhat weathered and worn, as time takes its toll in the forty years since he first was here as an English tutor. However, when he arrives at the door, he meets Mrs. Odile, played by Emilie Dequenne, a crisp house manager and chef for the owner, Mrs. Beauvillier, played by Fanny Ardant.
We also find out quickly that both Mrs. Beauvillier had the idea of opening the house for a bed and breakfast, and Mrs. Odile had the idea of offering a butler a barter arrangement, room and board, to help prepare the rooms for guests. So, when Mr. Blake arrives he is mistaken for the butler.
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Soon, Mr. Blake, who remember was honored as a business innovator, effortlessly adjusts to the simplicity of his new role, and one night as he is trying to find a cell phone signal, he meets the groundman, Magnier, played by Philippe Bas, who threatens to shoot him. After the misunderstanding is cleared, Mr. Blake is walking back to the house when he hears sounds coming from the barn. Investigating, he finds the fourth member of the house staff, Manon, played by Eugenie Anselin, who we find out is pregnant, and deserted by the baby's father, and is now homeless.
Of course, Mr. Blake can have none of that, so with so many rooms, and so little people, what is a proper English butler supposed to do? Soon, he has everyone on board, and Manon is given a proper room in the house. Mr. Blake, we see is kind, thoughtful, and caring, in addition to fixing the broken parts around the house, after a few hiccups he is mending the broken hearts in the house also.
The financial burden of running the estate is pressing Mrs. Beauvillier to make hard decisions, and as the first idea for generating money, opening a bed and breakfast, is not moving fast enough to keep up with the overhead, she has decided to sell.
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For Mr. Blake, who by being on the estate, has found a part of himself that was missing, has decided to take matters into his own hands. After he and Magnier reappropriate the jewelry she sold, they also reappropriate the paperwork and return the estate to her. While it seems like he has left her in the same financial straits, he has become quite at home and finally tells her of his successes in business.
This ushers in the last surprising act of this delightfully charming feel good film.
John Malkovich leads this largely recognizable, but appealing cast, with an engaging and likeable against type character. Along with French actress Fanny Ardant, who many American audiences will also recognize, they deliver an enchanting and captivating comedic drama.
With lighthearted humor, Mr. Blake at Your Service, is a fun a mix of cultures as the English and French customs and idioms, are traded back and forth throughout, and delivered with equal irony.
Writer and director Gilles Legardinier explains, "The way I see it, Mr. Blake at Your Service, is a fable about what we all are, deep down, fragile and clumsy but full of hope."
Thoroughly enjoyable, Mr. Blake at Your Service, opens in theaters throughout the UK and Ireland Friday, October 3, 2025. See it.
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Country: UK.
Language: French with English subtitles.
Runtime: 100 minutes.
Director: Gilles Legardinier.
Producer: Clement Calvet, Lilian Eche, Jeremie Fajner, Christel Henon, Gilles Legardinier.
Writer: Christel Henon, Gilles Legardinier.
Cast: John Malkovich, Fanny Ardant, Emilie Dequenne, Philippe Bas, Eugenie Anselin, Al Ginter, Anne Brionne, Stephanie Clemente Jodar, Christel Henon.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has completed the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," are available on Amazon. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
