Leslie Caron, in what may be her best performance, is a poor single pregnant French woman of twenty-seven who moves into the most drab little English walkup you can imagine. She's on like the fourth floor and the lavatory is on the first, or ground floor if you live in this place. The L-shaped room looks like hell and it's got bedbugs. That's a bad sign. I had a small hotel room in Skopje with bedbugs and there's little that's more discomfiting than opening your eyes at night while repositioning your body on the bed and seeing half a dozen black varmints where your ear had just rested. What we have here is a lot of urban distress.
There are, however, neighbors and some are friendly in a no-nonsense kind of way. Others try to be helpful. But Caron is quiet and secretive, and likely to answer a question with another question, if she answers at all. We get at least a portion of the back stories of the other roomers, including the young novelist who falls too promptly in love with her. Not that I blame him. She's quite pretty.
The months come and the months go and Caron's abdomen swells apace. Everyone she knows seems intent on persuading her to abort the pregnancy or to give it up for adoption without seeing it first. That last is grounded in experience. After birth, there are a few hours that form a launch window, during which, if the mother sees the neonate, some sort of reflex occurs and a bond between them is cemented.
The performances are up to par, even if some of the characters exhibit stereotyped traits. The direction is by Brian Forbes, who also adapted the novel for the screen, and he does an excellent job with what is essentially a carefully wrought soap opera.
There are, however, neighbors and some are friendly in a no-nonsense kind of way. Others try to be helpful. But Caron is quiet and secretive, and likely to answer a question with another question, if she answers at all. We get at least a portion of the back stories of the other roomers, including the young novelist who falls too promptly in love with her. Not that I blame him. She's quite pretty.
The months come and the months go and Caron's abdomen swells apace. Everyone she knows seems intent on persuading her to abort the pregnancy or to give it up for adoption without seeing it first. That last is grounded in experience. After birth, there are a few hours that form a launch window, during which, if the mother sees the neonate, some sort of reflex occurs and a bond between them is cemented.
The performances are up to par, even if some of the characters exhibit stereotyped traits. The direction is by Brian Forbes, who also adapted the novel for the screen, and he does an excellent job with what is essentially a carefully wrought soap opera.