The L-Shaped Room (1962)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Bryan Forbes

Writers:

Lynne Reid Banks (novel)
Bryan Forbes (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 November 1962 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

"Sex is not a forbidden word!"

Plot:

Jane, a young French woman, pregnant and unmarried, takes a room in a seedy London boarding house, which is inhabited by an assortment of misfits...

Plot Keywords:

Abortion | Kitchen Sink Realism | Pregnancy | Lesbian | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Leslie Caron	...	Jane Fosset
Anthony Booth	...	Youth in Street
Avis Bunnage	...	Doris
Patricia Phoenix	...	Sonia
Verity Edmett	...	Jane II
Tom Bell	...	Toby
Cicely Courtneidge	...	Mavis
Harry Locke	...	Newsagent
Ellen Dryden	...	Girl in Newsagent's
Emlyn Williams	...	Dr. Weaver
Jennifer White	...	Monica
Brock Peters	...	Johnny
Gerry Duggan	...	Bert
Joan Ingram	...	Woman in Park
Mark Eden	...	Terry

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

4 St Luke's Road, Notting Hill, London, England, UK

Company:

British Lion Film Corporation

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mary Tyler Moore: The Square-Shaped Room (#2.13)" (1971)

Soundtrack:

Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty

Forgotten, but marvelous

It's a shame this film has been all but forgotten. It's an excellent drama and character study, and features a career best performance from Leslie Caron, as an unwed pregnant French woman at a London boarding house. Though they all want her to get an abortion for various reasons, she refuses, and this forces them all to emerge from their shells and become a framework of friendship and love. The ending is sad, and just about perfect. The fact that time has neglected it is a true shame.