The L-Shaped Room

The L-Shaped Room

Company type	Film
Industry	Film industry
Founded	1962
Founder	Bryan Forbes (director and screenwriter)
Products	Drama and romance film

The L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama and romance film, both penned and directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the 1960 novel authored by Lynne Reid Banks. The narrative centers on Jane Fosset, a young French woman who is unmarried and expecting a child, as she takes up residence in a London boarding house and forms a friendship with a fellow tenant named Toby. The movie is associated with the kitchen sink realism movement within British cinema, illustrating a shift towards more candid depictions of marginalized social groups such as unmarried mothers, lesbians, and Black individuals. Forbes’ directorial approach offers a romantic yet wistful realism that sets it apart from works by contemporaries like Tony Richardson or Lindsay Anderson.

Leslie Caron received widespread acclaim for her leading role, securing the Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards for Best Actress and earning an Academy Award nomination. Cicely Courtneidge portrayed Mavis, an elderly lesbian reflecting on her past, in what she regarded as her finest cinematic performance; this portrayal was hailed as a triumph by The Times. For Tom Bell, this film represented his significant breakthrough into leading roles in both film and television.

Plot

Jane Fosset, a 27-year-old French woman, moves into a dilapidated boarding house located in Notting Hill, London, where she occupies an attic room shaped like an L. Reserved yet striking, she encounters other residents who are social outsiders, including Johnny, a gay Black trumpeter.

Expecting a child and unwilling to wed the father, Terry, Jane visits Dr. Weaver but resists suggestions about marriage or abortion, ultimately deciding to keep her baby. She initiates a romantic relationship with fellow boarder Toby, which becomes strained once he discovers her pregnancy by Terry. Toby’s own frustrations with his stalled writing career add to the tension between them.

The boarding house residents rally around Jane during her childbirth. Toby visits her in the hospital and presents his latest story titled The L-Shaped Room. After being discharged, Jane returns to her family in France, bidding farewell to the room she had inhabited for seven months.

Cast

• Leslie Caron as Jane Fosset
• Tom Bell as Toby Coleman Cohen
• Brock Peters as Johnny
• Cicely Courtneidge as Mavis
• Bernard Lee as Charlie
• Patricia Phoenix as Sonia
• Emlyn Williams as Dr. Weaver
• Avis Bunnage as Doris
• Gerry Duggan as Bert
• Mark Eden as Terry
• Anthony Booth as youth in street
• Harry Locke as newsagent
• Gerald Sim as hospital doctor
• Nanette Newman as girl at end

Music

The film’s recurring background music features Peter Katin’s rendition of Johannes Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, conducted by Muir Mathieson. An original score composed by John Barry accompanies the jazz club scene.

Reception

According to The Monthly Film Bulletin, while Bryan Forbes’ witty dialogue and authentic setting enrich the film, it eventually veers into melodramatic territory and lacks the grit necessary to fully portray isolation. Forbes’ direction highlights engaging performances from actors including Avis Bunnage and Cicely Courtneidge but sometimes falls into character clichés. Leslie Caron’s portrayal was noted for its charm, while Tom Bell convincingly depicted a frustrated aspiring intellectual. The film’s understated romantic elements were regarded as both charming and assured.

In The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther praised Leslie Caron’s sincere performance for elevating an otherwise modest narrative with warmth and grace. He also acknowledged Tom Bell’s compelling acting and Bryan Forbes’ sensitive adaptation of Lynne Reid Banks’ novel, likening it to Forbes’ earlier film Whistle Down the Wind in its humane approach.

Accolades

• Leslie Caron received a Best Actress nomination at the 36th Academy Awards
• Leslie Caron won the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama award at the 21st Golden Globes
• At the 16th BAFTAs, Leslie Caron was honored with the Best British Actress award
• The film was nominated for Best British Film at the BAFTAs, credited to Richard Attenborough, Jack Rix, John and James Woolf
• It also earned a nomination for the BAFTA Best Film from Any Source category
• Recognized among the Top Ten Films of the Year by the National Board of Review
• Leslie Caron received a nomination for Best Actress from the New York Film Critics Circle

Home media

In 2017, the movie underwent restoration and was subsequently issued on DVD and Blu-ray formats, including interviews with Leslie Caron and Lynne Reid Banks.

Popular culture

The track "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty," performed by Cicely Courtneidge in the film, was incorporated as a sample in the title song of The Smiths' 1986 album The Queen Is Dead.