The L-Shaped Room

This was on late one night on Turner Classic Movies in the middle of a Leslie Caron triple feature. I had never heard of this film before, and that is unfortunate. This film deals with issues (abortion, single motherhood, pre-marital sex)that would not be addressed in American films for at least another decade. This is a film that needs to be released on DVD in the US (It is available on DVD in Region 2, so if you have a all region DVD player this is a movie worth getting.). Leslie Caron (in a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination), Brock Peters and Tom Bell give great performances. If you ever get a chance to see this film don't pass it up.

This gritty little film is the victim of it's star's glitz. Leslie Caron has been identified with many classic films, but they tend to be musicals ("An American in Paris", "Lili, "Gigi"). Occasionally she is recalled for a dramatic performance - but it is usually "Fanny" which is pointed to, because the cast there is full of named stars (Boyer, Chevalier, and Buchholz). But her second Oscar nomination (after one for "Lili") was for the role of Jane Fossett in "The L-Shaped Room". While "Fanny" is set in a colorfully shot Marseilles and environs, "The L-Shaped Room" is set in the mean streets and rooming houses of grimy London districts. It is shot too in black and white. This makes the sadness of the story all the more intense, and helped make Caron's performance here possibly the best she ever gave in an English speaking film. As for the cast here, only two (Cecile Courtneidge as "Mavis" and Emlyn Williams as "Dr. Weaver") had reputations on par with Cevalier and Boyer in stage and screen work, and a third (Brock Peters as "Johnny", the Anglo - Caribbean who is the neighbor of Jane) is better recalled for his smaller part of the defendant that Gregory Peck tries to save in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. "The L-Shaped Room" is about Jane, a Frenchwoman who comes to England to get away from her puritanical and harsh parents in France, in order to have a child she got from a one night stand with an actor she met on one occasion. She checks into a boarding house (on the top floor - attic rooms) run by Doris (Avis Brunnage). Initially Jane plans to have the baby aborted - and she got the name and address of a Harley Street specialist Dr. Weaver. But the self-satisfied Weaver is so sure of himself (he knows all the answers from his patients, and he knows how to steer the patient to the story facts he needs to know to protect himself from prosecution for giving abortions, that he turns off Jane even before she realizes his price (100 guineas in 1962 - about two thousand dollars today with inflation rates). Caron tells off the amazed Weaver (Williams just can't believe this one is not behaving like the other unwed mothers and taking orders), and tells him she is now convinced to have the child. The film follows Caron's interaction with the other people in the boarding house, including Doris, Mavis (a one time West End headliner), Sonia (Patricia Phoenix) and Jane II (Verity Edmet) - two prostitutes, Toby (Tom Bell) - a struggling writer, and Johnny. In the course of her pregnancy she gets to see the secrets in most of their lives, in particular Mavis (a decent woman, who had a secret lover who died), and Toby, with whom Jane falls in love. But the pregnancy becomes a major factor in Jane's sexual/emotional tie to Toby. Will it derail their love or not? Caron is intense in the film, whether telling off Williams, or trying to come to an understanding with Bell. Without over-acting she does make one see a woman who has been deserted by everyone in a moment of need, but determined not to destroy what can be the best thing in her life up until now. The film observes her decision and how it pans out, and how the rest of the world accepts it, or rejects it, or just passes it by. "The L-Shaped Room" has never been a very popular film. My suspicion is that in a world where the issue of who has the right to have an abortion, and the right of the woman to choose, is so touchy to so many people, the fact that the abortion method is thrown away just not really popular with many modern audiences. Like it's contemporary film, LOVE WITH A PROPER STRANGER, despite the well produced movie results, the message against abortion (even if thoroughly understandable) is just not acceptable in many quarters as a solution to the problem. It so, the movie audiences at revival houses are missing one fine film and a grade-"A" performance by Caron here.

I agree that this is an excellent film. I bought the DVD. It is sad that so many younger people today are turned off by B&W movies. I grew up on B&W TV and have no problem with it. Ms. Caron is a stunning actress and gives a great performance. The film may be too English and the content her predicament)too dated for many viewers but it is a gem. Hope some day they produce a better quality DVD, though I doubt they will. The cheap copy I bought (how ignominious for it to be combined with Darling - another excellent film). I suppose one has to be grateful that it was released at all. A piece of trivia: I understand that Ms. Caron runs a hotel in France. I'd love to go stay there! Throughout her movie career there was an integrity that always shone through.

Really dull kitchen sink drama. Sometimes even the dull ones are worth watching for acting or historic interest but this one had nothing. Miserable French woman moves into seedy apartment block and is 'courted' by one of the men who live there. Really nothing more than that. Boring.

Forlorn Frenchie Leslie Caron--27-years-old, unwed, pregnant and alone--takes a room in a British boarding house bustling with funny, mercurial people. Next-door to her is a black jazz musician, while downstairs is a handsome writer (who, naturally, hasn't sold anything in months). Down the hall from the writer is a lesbian shut-in, also a man-hungry landlady and two prostitutes. Bryan Forbes directed and adapted Lynne Reid Banks' book, taking careful steps to let this humanistic tale unfold as naturally as possible (when Caron upsets the horn-player, she talks so sensibly to him at his door that his initial anger suddenly seems unfounded and embarrassing). Certainly the dramatic and romantic predicaments which transpire are familiar, and Caron's insistence on keeping her condition a secret is a little bit nutty, no matter how afraid she is. However, the dignified film has a bittersweet tinge to it that draws one in, and the cast is uniformly strong (especially Caron, doing Oscar-nominated work). A few of the arguments become repetitive, though Forbes handles the characters sensitively. It's a happy/sad piece with a lovely message which says people change, they come and go, yet the rooms they once occupied carry on without them, renewed with fresh voices. Caron lost the Oscar to Patricia Neal in "Hud", but she won the BAFTA for Best British Actress. *** from ****

I saw this film first when I was twenty and, for me, it summed up all the anguish of being young, female and alone in London. The performances are magnificent, and at the time, I found Tom Bell to be quite attractive. I later went off him when he was successively portrayed as a seedy villainous type. The thing which completely mesmerised me at the time was the music (Brahms First Piano Concerto). I haven't read any other comments about the music and I am interested to know if anyone else was as affected by it as I was. It is, of course, a fabulous piece but this was my first introduction to it. I was a music student in 1962 but in common with many other music students of the time, not very knowledgeable. I immediately became very passionate about this piece.

A very unusual but also very compelling and fascinating film, there is little given plot to it, with events occurring without any warning, and this actually makes it rather exciting as one never knows exactly what to expect from it. The directing work by Forbes is simply beautiful, with attention to shadows, lighting and camera angles, plus some effective close-ups. The extent of the unpredictability is a little over-the-top, and it is not the most satisfying film out there, especially at a rather generous two-hour length. However, for something different for a change, this is top quality film-making, helped out also by an Oscar nominated performance by Leslie Caron, who is dazzlingly believable in the main role.

One of the best of the so-called "kitchen-sink" films, THE L-SHAPED ROOM is nearly perfect. The set decoration probably deserved an award for the way it evokes, with poetry, the incredibly realistic environment of a down-and-out London rooming house. As many commentators have noted, this film avoids clichés and gives us real-seeming characters played by gifted actors. There is not a single weak link in the cast, with Tom Bell, Avis Bunnage, Brock Peters, Cicely Courtneige among others providing so many memorable moments. At the heart of the film is Leslie Caron in an award-nominated performance that is not likely to be forgotten by anyone who sees it. This is a performance that elicits true feeling, done with a kind of invisible artistry, so it seems completely real. Bryan Forbes, one of Britain's finest directors of the period, paces the film well, relying on Caron and others to fill what may have been longueurs with true meaning. The only criticism is the use of the Brahms First Piano Concerto in the soundtrack. The surging romanticism, while appealing in itself, doesn't fit very well with the mood of the film, apart from a couple of quiet scenes. It's certainly not a big problem, only it seems an odd musical choice. A deeply affecting, unforgettable film.

The camera follows a well-dressed attractive young woman through the down-at-heel back streets of west London.It is almost a ghetto,although the word is not currently in use.She is clearly out-of-place amongst the peeling paintwork and scruffy pavements.She is referring to a piece of paper and it soon becomes clear that she is flat-hunting.As she crosses the street into brilliant sunshine there is a huge poster on the wall advertising "The News of the World"."All human life is here" it says. It is 1963,dogs outnumber cars in the street,the CND is on the march,two shillings will buy you lunch(called dinner) at the corner cafe,Kennedy and MacMillan are the Bush and Blair of the day.It is the sixties but no one has realised it yet. Tony Blair's future father-in-law has the first lines of dialogue in "The L-shaped room".Perhaps rather old for a "youth",he tries to engage the girl in conversation but fails to hold her attention and throws down his cigarette in annoyance(an extravagant gesture in 1963),blithely unaware of his destiny. The girl is French and pregnant,she has come to England to have her baby in secret then return home.She finds a room in a run-down house owned by Miss Avis Bunnage-no stranger to playing landladies.Her fellow lodgers are Mr Tom Bell'an unpublished writer,Mr Brock Peters a jazz trumpeter and a "little bit bent" according to Mr Bell,the wonderful Miss Cicely Courtneidge as a former Music Hall entertainer and Miss Pat Pheonix,a working girl."All human life is here"indeed.And all the ingredients for a cornucopia of clichés which,marvellously,the writer and director Mr Bryan Forbes manages to avoid by coaxing performances far beyond the call of duty from everyone concerned.In the case of Miss Leslie Caron a performance that was rightfully nominated for an Oscar. Her strength and inner beauty push the film through its occasional longeurs and she is obviously far too good for Mr Tom Bell's hypocritical bitter and twisted would-be novelist. There is a lovely turn from Mr Emlyn Williams as a slimy doctor and Miss Nanette Newman makes her presence felt as the girl who takes over Miss Caron's L-shaped room right at the end. Back in the day...I was 22 years old the last time I saw this film and as cynical and world -weary as only a know-nothing 22 year old can be. Mistaking sentiment for sentimentality I disliked it.43 years on ,rather ashamed at my folie de jeunesse I applaud "The L-shaped Room" as a film made with a love for humanity,its strengths,weaknesses and contradictions,diversities and small tragedies.Thank you Mr Forbes.

This was the first 'grown-up' (guess these days you can't use the word 'adult' as you should be able to) film I remember seeing. I put the profoundly moving effect it had on me down to my tender (15) years. So after around 42 years, I saw it again this week - I had reason to screen it for my Film Studies class... and it's still quite wonderful. At the centre is an earthy and moving story of the central character, Jane's, single pregnancy. But Jane is not a scatter-brained bimbo who stumbled into pregnancy, she is a sophisticated 27-year-old French woman, whose virginity was becoming burdensome. But this is the late-50s and social attitudes to single pregnancy are wholly different from those of today. The film details Jane's 'go it alone' strategy, as she moves into a grotty boarding house occupied by a bunch of unremarkable misfits. Though this 'kitchen sink' drama seems, for much of its length like an 'issue' film, it is, ultimately, triumphantly not. There is a black trumpeter (Brock Peters) who doesn't experience racism, and nearly destroys Jane's budding relationship through his judgemental moral attitudes. There is an ageing lesbian music hall artist (Cicely Courtneige) who isn't ostracised. There is a prostitute (Patricia Phoenix) who doesn't have a heart of gold, or an exploitative pimp. In other words, this is a moral tale that refuses to preach. And at the centre of this is the curious and heart-warming theme of all of the well-meaning people (well, some of them are well-meaning) who Jane meets who want to help her abort her baby. Our interest is, for much of the film centred on the relationship between Toby (penniless writer) and Jane, a relationship that we will to succeed. But in the end, it (probably, as the ending is to some extent inconclusive) is not this relationship that we treasure from this film, but the sense, made, oh so movingly, in the final scene, that Jane has, through her hardship and the friendship of people whom she would previously have dismissed, become a much fuller person living in this hovel than she could ever have become in the cosy bourgeois bosom of her parents. For this reason, and others, this is a truly subversive work. No wonder it left so great an impression on me, at the tender age of fifteen, living in my council flat with my very respectable parents in leafy Sevenoaks...