Steaming (1985)

Newly re-mastered in HD! This was legendary filmmaker, Joseph Losey's (The Servant, Figures in a Landscape) final film about a group of women who overcome several obstacles by helping each other out. Seven different women whose backgrounds are filled in by flashbacks and narration are together in a steam room on ladies' day. Violet (Diana Dors, Nothing But the Night) is the maternal manager of the steam bath, and one of the issues to be resolved is how to save the bath from being shut down by the authorities. Nancy (Vanessa Redgrave, Julia, Camelot) is suddenly a single mother of three after being deserted by her husband. Her good friend Sarah (Sarah Miles, Ryan s Daughter) has neither children nor a husband, yet she can empathize with Nancy's increasing loneliness. Josie (Patti Love, The Long Good Friday) is an outgoing, talkative woman whose sex life is her main interest at the moment, and other women include a somewhat reserved mother-and-daughter duo (Brenda Bruce and Felicity Dean). Personal traumas are revealed and shared, and a plan to save the steam bath is also cooked up. This was to be the last film for both Diana Dors and Joseph Losey who died not long after the feature was wrapped.