Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Leslie Caron | ... | ||
Anthony Booth | ... |
Youth in Street
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Avis Bunnage | ... |
Doris
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Patricia Phoenix | ... |
Sonia
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Verity Edmett | ... |
Jane II
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Tom Bell | ... | ||
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Cicely Courtneidge | ... |
Mavis
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Harry Locke | ... |
Newsagent
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Ellen Dryden | ... |
Girl in Newsagent's
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Emlyn Williams | ... |
Dr. Weaver
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Jennifer White | ... |
Monica
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Brock Peters | ... | ||
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Gerry Duggan | ... |
Bert
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Joan Ingram | ... |
Woman in Park
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Mark Eden | ... |
Terry
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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. She considers getting an abortion, but is unhappy with this solution. She falls into a relationship with Toby, a struggling young writer who lives on the first floor. Eventually she comes to like her odd room, and makes friends with all the strange people in the house. But she still faces two problems: what to do with her baby, and what to do with Toby. Written by John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
If I were asked to name my second favourite film I would have to consider many; my favourite is an easy choiceThe L-Shaped Room. As a teenager I saw it on its first release, then four times soon after. Bryan Forbes has crafted this film from a rather maudlin novel by Lynne Reid Banks; it becomes, in his hands, quite a different storya work of art. Leslie Caron, although uniformly fine in all her films, has never been better than she is here. The supporting actors (and there are many) all give sensitive, human performances. The evocative score (parts of the first movement of the First Piano Concerto by Brahms) is a consummate fit with the narrative. The result of this collaboration of sources and talents is a restrained, perfect tapestry that depicts the human condition. The L-Shaped Room has no flawsnone.