The L-Shaped Room

On its release in 1962, The L-Shaped Room attracted international acclaim for its star Leslie Caron (An American in Paris, Gigi) who was awarded both a Golden Globe and a BAFTA and received a nomination to the Academy Awards for her portrayal of Jane. Ever since Hitchcock’s The Lodger, the London boarding house has proved an evocative location enabling the exploration of the underside of British society, and The L-Shaped Room’s sensitive study of social morals at the dawning of the Sixties sexual revolution, is no exception.

A young French woman pregnant with an illegitimate child, Jane arrives at a dingy Notting Hill lodgings to have her child in secret but finds love and friendship among the assortment of outsiders living in the boarding house – all brought to life by Forbes’ sensitive ear for dialogue.