Steaming
Screening on Film
Directed by Joseph Losey.
With Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Diana Dors.
UK, 1984, digital video, color, 95 min.
With Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Diana Dors.
UK, 1984, digital video, color, 95 min.
Losey's last feature film is an adaptation of a popular play by British writer Nell Dunn that takes place entirely in the London Turkish bath where a group of women first met and became friends. The news of the bath's closure reunites the women to discuss their past experiences and future plans and, eventually, to band together to defend the beloved bathhouse. While Steaming's all female ensemble marks an unusual departure in Losey's oeuvre, the film extends his interest in willful and outspoken female characters seen in so many of his films. Poignantly, Losey's final act as a director sees the usual Loseyesque conflicts over class, gender and power give way to a new emphasis on community and hope.