The L-Shaped Room

Watch: The L-Shaped Room

~ Sex is not a forbidden word ~

Overview:

Jane is young, French, pregnant and unmarried. Bucking convention, she is uninterested in settling with her baby's father or getting an abortion. After renting a room in a dingy London boarding house, Jane befriends the odd group of inhabitants and starts an affair with one boarder, Toby. As Jane's pregnancy threatens her new relationship, and the reality of single motherhood approaches, she is forced to decide what to do about both her baby and her budding romance.

Director:

Bryan Forbes

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

london, england
pregnancy
boarding house
landlady
kitchen sink realism

Cast

Leslie Caron

~ as ~

Jane Fosset

Tom Bell

~ as ~

Toby

Brock Peters

~ as ~

Johnny

Bernard Lee

~ as ~

Charlie

Avis Bunnage

~ as ~

Doris

Patricia Phoenix

~ as ~

Sonia

Cicely Courtneidge

~ as ~

Mavis

Verity Edmett

~ as ~

Jane II

Anthony Booth

~ as ~

Youth in Street

Harry Locke

~ as ~

Newsagent

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
7
Leslie Caron is really good in this rather quirky tale of a French lass who, pregnant, takes up residence in a pretty grotty London boarding house. Initially wary of the other "guests", "Jane" befriends aspiring writer"Toby" (Tom Bell) and the film depicts her lively relationship with him and her assimilation into this curious group of individuals whom she gradually begins to get used to. There are two things that help this stand out. The photography - it is intimate and very effective; and the use of the Brahms Piano Concerto which is as effective as any of the, frequently potent, dialogue. Caron is in her element here, her performance is confident and engaging. Tom Bell contributes strongly, as do Avis Bunnage and Patricia Phoenix, and there is something quite uplifting about Bryan Forbes' take on this outwardly rather depressing tale of solitude and abandonment. It sags just a bit in the middle with perhaps a more judicious pruning of the character establishment in order at the start, but it does hold the attention well for two hours and deals with adult topics in a remarkably - for the time - frank and plausible fashion.