The lofty, classic dimensions have been softened and lent quirkiness with moth and thistle carpets and blowsy Caravaggio murals.

BBC: Postcard from Edinburgh

Their efforts are both helped and hindered by Kidman's character, a blowsy hairdresser who has won the trust of the felon through sexually explicit correspondence.

BBC: Nicole Kidman refused to say 'n-word', co-star reveals

Instead, there was smell: sear-leaved, blowsy roses, last of the summer.

NEWYORKER: Hanwell Senior

When we left a few minutes later, our transformation went in the opposite direction, or silk purse into sow's ear, since after several delicious blowsy hours of la vie en rose, our beeping cell phones signaled the impatience of the world outside.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Hungry for Paris'