The L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama romance film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Lynne Reid Banks.

[8][9][10] Cicely Courtneidge gave what she considered her finest film performance, in a role wholly unlike her usual parts; she played an elderly lesbian, living in a drab London flat with her cat, recalling her career as an actress and forlornly trying to keep in touch with former friends.

[13] A 27-year-old French woman, Jane Fosset, arrives alone at a run down boarding house in Notting Hill, London, moving into an L-shaped room in the attic.

Despite his cogently amusing dialogue, Bryan Forbes' rather capricious direction makes this only too clear quite early on, for after a brilliantly authentic piece of scene setting, with the unseen landlady's spine-chilling small talk on the stairs and the lights going out on each landing of the hideous house, he disappointingly spills over into melodrama – bugs in the bed, bangings on the wall, black face at the window. ...

Moreover, neither direction nor script is ever tough enough to succeed in suggesting loneliness, and Forbes' obvious talent (and preference) for drawing likeable performances from his actors tends to work against him.

On the other hand, Leslie Caron has never been more appealing ... and Tom Bell exactly hits off frustrated attitudes of a would-be intellectual who cannot afford a bottle of non-vintage wine, let alone a wife with child.

"[15] In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote "[Leslie Caron] pours into this role so much powerful feeling, so much heart and understanding, that she imbues a basically threadbare little story with tremendous compassion and charm.

A recording of the song "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty" sung in the film was sampled at the beginning of the title track of the album The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths.