British film directed by Bryan Forbes, a feature belonging to the film movement known as Free Cinema, and was characterized by simplicity and ordinariness of events represented, a movement which was a kind of response to the film that was produced in Hollywood. The film, adapted by Forbes to the big screen, is based on the novel by Lynne Reid Banks, it is a good example of the topics usually addressed by this English film movement, and presents the story of a young woman in London, which has some drama in her life. She is pregnant, and gets accommodation at an inn, where she meets a young aspiring writer, and the motley collection of tenants; although the room is dark and somewhat bleak, she will end up taking like to the site and making friends with many of the guests, as is deciding what to do about her pregnancy, and the writer, with whom has emerged a romance. The film explores with simplicity the psychology of central character, she, and it is equipped with a unique and attractive aesthetics, a visual language in which good performance of British filmmaker notes. It is not certainly the Free Cinema one of the most prominent and popular movements in the art of features, but with a decent performance of its protagonist and a nice staging, the film set a significant exercise of British cinema.
After a panoramic shots of London, we see beautiful young Jane Fosset (Leslie Caron), wandering the streets, until a lodging, where, after some hesitation, she ends up renting an apartment. Meet promptly Toby (Tom Bell), one of the tenants who live there, who shos some interest in her. Jane is pregnant, it is doubtful whether or not to have the baby, going to see a doctor to monitor her condition, but when he determinedly proposes abortion, she decides to have the baby. While accustomed to gloomy department, which has problems with insects, discuss with Doris (Avis Bunnage), landlord, meets other tenants, like Johnny (Brock Peters), while Toby, who writes novels, still shows attention to her, and she will accept this attention, they begin to date, an idyll is borning. Jane runs into the father of her child, but before its failure, she sets him apart from her life. Toby and ger have some fun at the club where Johnny is a musician, their romance is consumed. This causes discomfort in Johnny, and suddenly Toby disappears, he has found out about the pregnancy, something that has bothered him. But he reappears, and despite everything, loving each other, seek to overcome the bad times, and stay together, as Christmas is approaching. Definitive moments are approaching as well, regarding her first born child and regarding Toby, and she finally takes a determination in that crucial moment of her life
The film from its initial images makes it clear its intention and tone, introduces a close and real portrait of London, and graphics it with those wide panoramic shots, touring with parsimony on the London streets, before heading into the story itself, with still shots of her walking down the streets, normal, everyday situations are shown. It's a nice handling, the camera work in those first few minutes, where the filmmaker manages his artistic tool with looseness, we see agile camera movements, intelligent performance, sliding and bringing even close-ups. A language that streamlines the story and we will serve as a prelude to the work that will be appreciated later. That efficiency of shots and framings, of travellings, is also complemented by an attractive play of light and shadow, a tangible expression of that atmosphere, which is embodied in two distinctly different environments: inside Jane's room and outdoors. Thus, inside the room, Room L-shaped (and throughout the house in general), we see powerful chiaroscuros and a powerful work of shadows, shadows spread through all chamber in various ways, forming a perennial gloom atmosphere where even the empty spaces express and convey feelings, always dark; whereas, on the contrary, outdoor atmosphere is opposite, almost always bright and shiny, marking the greatest of contrasts, and in turn setting to us its nature, the atmosphere of the site, shady, dense, where everything happens. That contrast is one of the attractions of the picture, broken only by the club where Johnny plays the trumpet, the unique atmosphere that breaks with the visual duality, exterior with the house, contrast in that house where a minimum wall provides little privacy to tenants, where everything is heard, where friendship, jealousy, sex, seem to have no clear contours.
We appreciate shots, framings, which enhance the intentionality described, especially indoors, with falling shots of stairs, the aforementioned frames of empty spaces, etc. The film has a rather warm, simple development without too many ornaments, it feels the character of closeness, that they are persons and daily actions what we see, and that simplicity and easiness is that from where calm and smooth development arises, it characterizes the picture. It feels a not extraordinary or spectacular, but everyday story that happens to people from next door, as are the three friends who share experiences in hosting, mixing friendship, love, jealousy, something therefore quite normal. And that normal course is reflected in the development of the film, a linearity that is not broken almost never on the tape, except perhaps when she faints; apart of that, the development of the tape is entirely conventional, linear, is Free Cinema. Good example is the current of this British movemente, film that shows nothing false, artificial or prepared, just average daily history of average human beings. On the feature the psychological issue becomes important, her problems, because after renting the room, we see her sobbing immediately, we know that she has a problem, and how she will interact with tenants give us more scope in this regard. Forbes also provides us a sketch of Londoners then, including a frustrated and economic deprivation writer, is the London people and their customs, and their psyche, their prejudices, being the scene of the Christmas celebration a good compendium of that. The musical accompaniment, though not abundant, knows to appear at times to intensify certain feelings, sometimes wildness, sometimes pain and uncertainty, a positive asset on the film and characteristic element of this film style. Free Cinema is not, in fact, one of the most colorful movements, nor dramatic, austerity media likens it to the French Nouvelle Vague, contemporary movement -although even some call Free Cinema the British Nouvelle Vague, right is that there are distances-, both seeking the prevailing split from regular film, mostly American cinema, fighting and artificial ways, with rawness and freedom of camera. The film is far from being a masterpiece, but with the mentioned technical attractions, added to the beauty and interpretive strength set in his role by Leslie Caron, the film, although almost unknown, is an acceptable exercise of European cinema, away from the glitter and fame of others works, but noticeable.
British film directed by Bryan Forbes, a feature belonging to the film movement known as Free Cinema, and was characterized by simplicity and ordinariness of events represented, a movement which was a kind of response to the film that was produced in Hollywood. The film, adapted by Forbes to the big screen, is based on the novel by Lynne Reid Banks, it is a good example of the topics usually addressed by this English film movement, and presents the story of a young woman in London, which has some drama in her life. She is pregnant, and gets accommodation at an inn, where she meets a young aspiring writer, and the motley collection of tenants; although the room is dark and somewhat bleak, she will end up taking like to the site and making friends with many of the guests, as is deciding what to do about her pregnancy, and the writer, with whom has emerged a romance. The film explores with simplicity the psychology of central character, she, and it is equipped with a unique and attractive aesthetics, a visual language in which good performance of British filmmaker notes. It is not certainly the Free Cinema one of the most prominent and popular movements in the art of features, but with a decent performance of its protagonist and a nice staging, the film set a significant exercise of British cinema.
After a panoramic shots of London, we see beautiful young Jane Fosset (Leslie Caron), wandering the streets, until a lodging, where, after some hesitation, she ends up renting an apartment. Meet promptly Toby (Tom Bell), one of the tenants who live there, who shos some interest in her. Jane is pregnant, it is doubtful whether or not to have the baby, going to see a doctor to monitor her condition, but when he determinedly proposes abortion, she decides to have the baby. While accustomed to gloomy department, which has problems with insects, discuss with Doris (Avis Bunnage), landlord, meets other tenants, like Johnny (Brock Peters), while Toby, who writes novels, still shows attention to her, and she will accept this attention, they begin to date, an idyll is borning. Jane runs into the father of her child, but before its failure, she sets him apart from her life. Toby and ger have some fun at the club where Johnny is a musician, their romance is consumed. This causes discomfort in Johnny, and suddenly Toby disappears, he has found out about the pregnancy, something that has bothered him. But he reappears, and despite everything, loving each other, seek to overcome the bad times, and stay together, as Christmas is approaching. Definitive moments are approaching as well, regarding her first born child and regarding Toby, and she finally takes a determination in that crucial moment of her life
The film from its initial images makes it clear its intention and tone, introduces a close and real portrait of London, and graphics it with those wide panoramic shots, touring with parsimony on the London streets, before heading into the story itself, with still shots of her walking down the streets, normal, everyday situations are shown. It's a nice handling, the camera work in those first few minutes, where the filmmaker manages his artistic tool with looseness, we see agile camera movements, intelligent performance, sliding and bringing even close-ups. A language that streamlines the story and we will serve as a prelude to the work that will be appreciated later. That efficiency of shots and framings, of travellings, is also complemented by an attractive play of light and shadow, a tangible expression of that atmosphere, which is embodied in two distinctly different environments: inside Jane's room and outdoors. Thus, inside the room, Room L-shaped (and throughout the house in general), we see powerful chiaroscuros and a powerful work of shadows, shadows spread through all chamber in various ways, forming a perennial gloom atmosphere where even the empty spaces express and convey feelings, always dark; whereas, on the contrary, outdoor atmosphere is opposite, almost always bright and shiny, marking the greatest of contrasts, and in turn setting to us its nature, the atmosphere of the site, shady, dense, where everything happens. That contrast is one of the attractions of the picture, broken only by the club where Johnny plays the trumpet, the unique atmosphere that breaks with the visual duality, exterior with the house, contrast in that house where a minimum wall provides little privacy to tenants, where everything is heard, where friendship, jealousy, sex, seem to have no clear contours.
We appreciate shots, framings, which enhance the intentionality described, especially indoors, with falling shots of stairs, the aforementioned frames of empty spaces, etc. The film has a rather warm, simple development without too many ornaments, it feels the character of closeness, that they are persons and daily actions what we see, and that simplicity and easiness is that from where calm and smooth development arises, it characterizes the picture. It feels a not extraordinary or spectacular, but everyday story that happens to people from next door, as are the three friends who share experiences in hosting, mixing friendship, love, jealousy, something therefore quite normal. And that normal course is reflected in the development of the film, a linearity that is not broken almost never on the tape, except perhaps when she faints; apart of that, the development of the tape is entirely conventional, linear, is Free Cinema. Good example is the current of this British movemente, film that shows nothing false, artificial or prepared, just average daily history of average human beings. On the feature the psychological issue becomes important, her problems, because after renting the room, we see her sobbing immediately, we know that she has a problem, and how she will interact with tenants give us more scope in this regard. Forbes also provides us a sketch of Londoners then, including a frustrated and economic deprivation writer, is the London people and their customs, and their psyche, their prejudices, being the scene of the Christmas celebration a good compendium of that. The musical accompaniment, though not abundant, knows to appear at times to intensify certain feelings, sometimes wildness, sometimes pain and uncertainty, a positive asset on the film and characteristic element of this film style. Free Cinema is not, in fact, one of the most colorful movements, nor dramatic, austerity media likens it to the French Nouvelle Vague, contemporary movement -although even some call Free Cinema the British Nouvelle Vague, right is that there are distances-, both seeking the prevailing split from regular film, mostly American cinema, fighting and artificial ways, with rawness and freedom of camera. The film is far from being a masterpiece, but with the mentioned technical attractions, added to the beauty and interpretive strength set in his role by Leslie Caron, the film, although almost unknown, is an acceptable exercise of European cinema, away from the glitter and fame of others works, but noticeable.
