Steaming (1984)
Director: Joseph Losey
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Losey was 73 and dying of cancer when he returned from France to make this modest adaptation of Nell Dunn's stage success about the Ladies' Night regulars at a London Turkish baths. Here middle-class Miles and Redgrave rub shoulders with the likes of working-class Love to unfold secrets and reveal their true feelings about their varied relationships, while the threat of demolition creates a new-found sense of solidarity. Virtually confined to a single location, it's claustrophobic, talky and rather too full of stereotypes, magnifying all the faults usually encountered when unsuitable theatrical material has been given the big screen treatment. The cast, however, retain their dignity while measuring up to the screenplay's dramatic demands in various stages of undress. Dors' final film, and Losey himself didn't live to see it released.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Joseph Losey
Producer: Paul Mills
Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Diana Dors, Patti Love, Brenda Bruce, Felicity Dean, Sally Sagoe, Anna Tzelniker full cast
Duration: 95 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now