The L-Shaped Room

+ intro by author and journalist Cathi Unsworth

Leslie Caron stars as a young, pregnant woman alone in 1960s London before it began swinging.

  • Director

    Bryan Forbes

  • With

    Leslie Caron, Tom Bell, Brock Peters, Cicely Courtneidge

  • UK 1962. 137min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    12A

  • A BFI National Archive print

When Jane moves into a shabby West London bedsit, she little anticipates the camaraderie and love that she will find there. Forbes’ sensitive adaptation of Lynne Reid Banks’ novel beautifully paints the working-class milieu and its denizens, who befriend Jane as she navigates a lonely and traumatic situation. Cicely Courtneidge’s portrait of an ageing lesbian is exceptionally moving.

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