La Chambre indiscrète

Forlorn Frenchie Leslie Caron--27-years-old, unwed, pregnant and alone--takes a room in a British boarding house bustling with funny, mercurial people. Next-door to her is a black jazz musician, while downstairs is a handsome writer (who, naturally, hasn't sold anything in months). Down the hall from the writer is a lesbian shut-in, also a man-hungry landlady and two prostitutes. Bryan Forbes directed and adapted Lynne Reid Banks' book, taking careful steps to let this humanistic tale unfold as naturally as possible (when Caron upsets the horn-player, she talks so sensibly to him at his door that his initial anger suddenly seems unfounded and embarrassing). Certainly the dramatic and romantic predicaments which transpire are familiar, and Caron's insistence on keeping her condition a secret is a little bit nutty, no matter how afraid she is. However, the dignified film has a bittersweet tinge to it that draws one in, and the cast is uniformly strong (especially Caron, doing Oscar-nominated work). A few of the arguments become repetitive, though Forbes handles the characters sensitively. It's a happy/sad piece with a lovely message which says people change, they come and go, yet the rooms they once occupied carry on without them, renewed with fresh voices. Caron lost the Oscar to Patricia Neal in "Hud", but she won the BAFTA for Best British Actress. *** from ****

The characters in the oddly appealing drama are so deliciously flawed and the texture is so utterly British art. Leslie Caron is underrated as a dramatic actor--having made a name for herself in musicals--but she shines in this one. Her performance is reminiscent of the character she played in "The Subterraneans." She is perfect as the tortured free-spirit who stumbles. Another standout is Brock Peters. You feel the closeness of his room when he is lying in bed, talking to Jane through the wall. In fact, the whole boarding house feels real, seedy and full of dashed hopes. You ache for the pain and loneliness each person on the

house endures--I felt myself like a resident in this menagerie. The direction is taut, spare and real. I would have liked to have learned more about Toby's background, what drove him to this place. But I suppose a good film is supposed to leave a place for the viewers imagination.

Bryan Forbes' second directorial feature was in sharp contrast to the lighter-toned "Whistle Down The Wind" from the year before. At times a sombre mood-piece, it nevertheless is a sensitive character study of the struggling tenants at a cheap Notting Hill (before it was Notting Hill!) boarding-house to which Leslie Caron's Jane character winds her weary way at the outset.

A 27 year old single French woman, she's pregnant and on her own after her first sexual encounter with an English actor who, like her parents, has recently rejected and abandoned her. Now friendless, she's down at the end of lonely street at this seeming heartbreak hotel where under the bawdy, boozy landlady's charge live a disparate and desperate set of individuals. These comprise a young black jazz musician, a handsome, young, white out-of-work writer, a nosey, fading old white lesbian actress and down in the basement, an old prostitute and her young Hungarian protege, the latter learning the dopes you might say.

After much pressing, Caron eventually, if reluctantly enters into a relationship with Tom Bell's possessive writer which seems to upset the musician next door who possibly has feelings for either one of them. However, once he learns of the pregnancy, Bell quickly drops her, leaving her to seek friendship at each of the other doors in the establishment. As Caron puts it herself, everyone it seems wants her to have an abortion but apart from one major wobble, she's determined to have the child.

It all winds up at a Christmas party for all the tenants in the landlady's front room (Bell excepted) and a nicely written (literally) bitter-sweet conclusion as Caron has to face up to her far from certain future.

Excellently filmed and played by all, this was a fine example of the early 60's kitchen-sink drama prevalent in U.K. cinema at the time. The situations, characterisations, sets and dialogue are credible and natural and shot and played in a convincingly realistic manner. Caron, previously only known to me from big-budget Hollywood movies from her youth is something of a revelation as the alien presence trying to cope with her further alienation all on her own. Bell, too, I was impressed with as the wounded, loquacious charmer unable at the key moment to man-up as today's phrase goes and do the decent thing for someone he clearly loves. All the other supporting characters, played by Brock Peters, Cicely Courtneidge, Avis Bunnage and a pre-Elsie Tanner Pat Phoenix likewise turn in strong performances making this a strong ensemble piece.

Honest, straightforward and moving, this is one of the best movies of its type I've yet seen, the better for focusing on a female character at its bruised, shifting, but always beating heart.

I first saw this film when I was I'm my early teens and for some reason it always stuck with me. Some 30yrs later, I watched it again last night and was awestruck by the performances in this fine fine film.

Leslie Caron was nominated for an Oscar for her role and won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for her performance .. and rightly so. Such a touching, understated delivery that will have you too fall in love with her character Jane.

It's hard to believe I am only the 2nd user to comment on this forgotten gem. Films like this really illustrate the dire state of motion picture making these days. They sure don't make em like they used to folks.

Available on DVD, unfortunately not in it's original aspect ratio. Perhaps one day someone will release it in wide screen to truly appreciate the gritty black & white photography.

Highly recommended .. a flawless film throughout !

I was a tender 14 years old in 1962, when I accompanied my mentor (my high school Spanish teacher) to an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village to see this film. My only previous encounter with Leslie Caron had been in the wonderfully entertaining film "Gigi". I must say, this two hour spectacle of unrelieved misery came as quite a shock to me. I left the theater thinking I had just seen the most depressing film I had ever seen in my life. And yet...I loved it! In fact, I felt very grown up at having survived it. This would not have been possible without the aid of the movie's soundtrack, Brahm's Piano Concerto No.1, which my astonished ears heard for the first time that evening. I've been in love with that piece--and with Brahms--ever since.