Charon honours `the Room ace L

With “The L-Shaped Room,” Leslie Caron brings the same level of grace to a dramatic role that she did to her dancing.After appearing in such classics as “An American in Paris,” “Lili” and “Gigi,” Caron was desperate to find an adult, non-musical role that would showcase her acting talents. Frankly, she was tired of playing the ingénue.“The L-Shaped Room” certainly gave her that opportunity. She was thrilled to play Jane Fosset, an unmarried French woman who discovers she’s pregnant. The film is part of the British new wave that brought a grittier reality to the film landscape not typically found in Hollywood and routinely tacked topics that the studios rarely touched.While “The L-S! haped Room’s” subject matter and revelations are less shocking today, the movie is still powerful, and Caron’s deeply felt performance is wonderful to watch.The film’s opening credits play over Jane searching for an apartment. She ends up at a run-down rooming house, where landlady Doris (Avis Bunnage) chirps, “We’re just one big happy family here, dear,” as she leads Jane up to the top floor and the small, odd-shaped apartment. The price is right, so Jane takes it. Upon her first night, Jane pulls back the sheets on her bed to discover roaches. She falls into the nearest chair, pulls her coat over her and curls up, exhausted, frightened and dejected.Soon Jane befriends two of her neighbors (below): Johnny (Brock Peters), who has the room next to her and who can see into her room (but it’s not a “peeping Tom” situation), and Toby (Tom Bell), who lives one floor down and is a struggling writer. He quickly develops a crush on Jane, but she keeps him at arm! ’s length, not revealing to him â€" or any of her other neig! hbors †" that she’s pregnant. Not sure of what to do, Jane visits a doctor about an abortion. He asks, “Can the young man be persuaded to marry you?” She replies, “I don’t want to marry him.” This surprising answer is not what he expected to hear. While he’s neither friendly nor unfriendly, the doctor has an impersonal approach, and his assumptions about Jane result in her decision to keep the baby.Meanwhile, Toby continues to persist in his affections, and soon Jane finds herself with him even though she knows it’s the wrong thing to do.The French new wave and the subsequent British new wave were not afraid to tackle themes like this. Often they focused on the working class â€" the people, their ne! ighborhoods, their friends. And sexuality wasn’t danced around. These films are so different from what Hollywood was churning out in the early 1960s. With rising costs, the studios spent their money on the familiar â€" big Biblical epics, road-show musicals, and glossy romances and melodramas â€" in hopes the returns would be big.If the British new wave didn’t make big bucks at the box office, they were attracting audiences â€" particularly younger crowds who wanted more realism in their films. And young directors and actors who would come of age by the end of the decade were riveted by such films as “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,” “A Taste of Honey” and “This Sporting Life.”Even if it’s clear where “The L-Shaped Room” is going, the drama unfolds beautifully. The women’s movement may be a few years away, but this movie (as well as its American counterpart that year, “Love With the Proper Stranger") isn’t afraid of exploring women’! s roles and sexuality. The landlady has a revolving door of me! n into h er apartment; in the basement apartment live two prostitutes. But the unmarried yet pregnant Jane is considered a whore â€" and she’s not a promiscuous woman.In fact, the movie also touches on homosexuality, and while it’s not overtly discussed, the issue is there and accepted without relying on broad stereotypes.Director Bryan Forbes was making only his second film with “Room.” He would direct several other British new wave movies, such as “Séance on a Wet Afternoon” and “The Whisperers,” both featuring lead performances that brought Oscar nods to Kim Stanley and Edith Evans, respectively. Then in the 1970s he made the chilling “The Stepford Wives,” which examines women’s roles within a different genre.As for “The L-Shaped Room,” the entire cast is excellent in bringing the characters vividly to life, yet the movie’s soul comes out through Caron. She portrays Jane’s search for some direction in her life as beautifully as she danced with Gene K! elly. Even in some of her plaintive conversations, when her emotions get the best of her, Caron conveys an unspoken defiance, as if she’s saying, “What have I done that’s so wrong?” Jane may be shaken, and her journey is not easy, but Caron conveys it all with sureness.If Caron wanted to prove she could act without dancing, to convincingly play an adult instead of a virginal young woman, she clearly succeeds. Had it not been for Patricia Neal in “Hud,” the Oscar may have been hers. It was her second nomination, the first coming for “Lili,” and she can be proud of her work as Jane.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *It was while watching "The L-Shaped Room" that I thought about the Best Actress race! from 1963 and doing a blogathon. So far the results have been! terrifi c, and here is the lineup with links:Monday, Feb. 21: Classic Film and TV Cafe will profile Rachel Roberts, nominated for "This Sporting Life" NOW POSTED!Tuesday, Feb. 22: Kevin's Movie Corner will present Shirley MacLaine in "Irma La Douce" NOW POSTED!Wednesday, Feb. 23: Classicfilmboy will cover Leslie Caron in "The L-Shaped Room"Thursday, Feb. 24: ClassicBecky's Film and Literary Review will examine Patricia Neal in "Hud"Friday, Feb. 25: Noir and Chick Flicks will look at Natalie Wood in "Love With the Proper Stranger"We hope you enjoy this look back at the Oscars -- leave us plenty of comments and let us know what you think!
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