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The L-Shaped Room

The L-Shaped Room
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBryan Forbes
Screenplay byBryan Forbes
Based onThe L-Shaped Room
by Lynne Reid Banks
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDouglas Slocombe
Edited byAnthony Harvey
Music byJohn Barry
Production
company
Distributed byBritish Lion Films
Release date
  • 20 November 1962 (1962-11-20) (United Kingdom)
Running time
126 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1 million (US/Canada rentals)[1]

The L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama romance film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Lynne Reid Banks.[2] It tells the story of Jane Fosset, a young French woman, unmarried and pregnant, who moves into a cheap London boarding house, befriending a young man, Toby, in the building.[3][4] The work is considered part of the kitchen sink realism school of British drama.[5][6] The film reflected a trend in British films of greater frankness about sex and displays a sympathetic treatment of outsiders "unmarried mothers, lesbian or black" as well as a "largely natural and non-judgmental handling of their problems". As director, Forbes represents "a more romantic, wistful type of realism" than that of Tony Richardson or Lindsay Anderson.[7]

Caron's performance earned her the Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for best actress, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.[8][9][10]

Cicely Courtneidge gave what she considered her finest film performance, in a role wholly unlike her usual parts; she played an elderly lesbian, living in a drab London flat with her cat, recalling her career as an actress and forlornly trying to keep in touch with former friends.[11] The Times described her performance as a triumph.[12] For Bell, the film marked his breakthrough as a leading actor in film and television.[13]

  1. ^ "Top Rental Features of 1963". Variety. 8 January 1964. p. 71.
  2. ^ Benn, Melissa (27 September 2010). "The L-Shaped Room". New Statesman. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  3. ^ "BFI Screenonline: L-Shaped Room, The (1962)". Screenonline.
  4. ^ "The L-shaped Room (1962)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 28 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Where to begin with kitchen sink drama". British Film Institute.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference nytimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ BFI Screenonline - L-Shaped Room, The (1962) accessed 6 July 2023.
  8. ^ "BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
  9. ^ "Leslie Caron". Golden Globe Awards.
  10. ^ "The L-Shaped Room (1962) – Bryan Forbes – Awards". AllMovie.
  11. ^ Crowther, Bosley. "Movie Review: The L-Shaped Room (1962)". The New York Times, 28 May 1963
  12. ^ Waymark, Peter. "70 years on stage for Cicely Courtneidge", The Times, 3 September 1971, p. 14
  13. ^ Obituary - Tom Bell. Daily Telegraph, 7 October 2006. accessed 7 July 2023.

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