The camera follows a well-dressed attractive young woman through the down-at-heel back streets of west London.It is almost a ghetto,although the word is not currently in use.She is clearly out-of-place amongst the peeling paintwork and scruffy pavements.She is referring to a piece of paper and it soon becomes clear that she is flat-hunting.As she crosses the street into brilliant sunshine there is a huge poster on the wall advertising "The News of the World"."All human life is here" it says. It is 1963,dogs outnumber cars in the street,the CND is on the march,two shillings will buy you lunch(called dinner) at the corner cafe,Kennedy and MacMillan are the Bush and Blair of the day.It is the sixties but no one has realised it yet. Tony Blair's future father-in-law has the first lines of dialogue in "The L-shaped room".Perhaps rather old for a "youth",he tries to engage the girl in conversation but fails to hold her attention and throws down his cigarette in annoyance(an extravagant gesture in 1963),blithely unaware of his destiny. The girl is French and pregnant,she has come to England to have her baby in secret then return home.She finds a room in a run-down house owned by Miss Avis Bunnage-no stranger to playing landladies.Her fellow lodgers are Mr Tom Bell'an unpublished writer,Mr Brock Peters a jazz trumpeter and a "little bit bent" according to Mr Bell,the wonderful Miss Cicely Courtneidge as a former Music Hall entertainer and Miss Pat Pheonix,a working girl."All human life is here"indeed.And all the ingredients for a cornucopia of clichés which,marvellously,the writer and director Mr Bryan Forbes manages to avoid by coaxing performances far beyond the call of duty from everyone concerned.In the case of Miss Leslie Caron a performance that was rightfully nominated for an Oscar. Her strength and inner beauty push the film through its occasional longeurs and she is obviously far too good for Mr Tom Bell's hypocritical bitter and twisted would-be novelist. There is a lovely turn from Mr Emlyn Williams as a slimy doctor and Miss Nanette Newman makes her presence felt as the girl who takes over Miss Caron's L-shaped room right at the end. Back in the day...I was 22 years old the last time I saw this film and as cynical and world -weary as only a know-nothing 22 year old can be. Mistaking sentiment for sentimentality I disliked it.43 years on ,rather ashamed at my folie de jeunesse I applaud "The L-shaped Room" as a film made with a love for humanity,its strengths,weaknesses and contradictions,diversities and small tragedies.Thank you Mr Forbes.
Review of The L-Shaped Room
