THE L SHAPED ROOM directed by
Bryan Forbes is a great film – A well-constructed commentary on the sexual
mores of the pre-swinging 60’s, a nice character study of people living in a
boarding house, and a reasonably measured love story.
I basically like everything
about the film but recently I read the book the movie is based on and I noticed
something that would have made the film better.
In the book, Leslie Caron’s
pregnant unmarried protagonist Jane is neither French nor beautiful which
makes a lot more sense when considering the character’s backstory (A virgin
until 27, raised by repressive parents)
Leslie Caron is a beautiful woman. No amount of dressing down will ever change
that. It’s a little harder to believe in
her in this role after reading the book despite liking the film and her performance.
One area where I think the
movie is better is in the relationship between Jane and the other boarders
especially in the Christmas party scene with Cicely Courtneidge’s version of “Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty” which was
sampled on the song The Queen is Dead by The Smiths but which is not in the
book.
Reading the book doesn’t
change my enjoyment of the film although it might have had I read it first. It’s a tribute to a filmmaker that he can
change the meaning of a book through casting and other choices and still
produce something meaningful
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