This documentary-style film, based on Nell Dunn's novel, almost views like a home-movie. As I watched it, I kept checking to see how far into the movie I was and how much longer it would last. This, in itself, was not a good sign. However, Loach does use the environment and surrounding people effectively, with several close ups showing the hopelessness or boredom on people's faces. The main method of the semi-documentary is a series of episodic clips arranged in chronological order; often title cards are used to introduce the episodes. To me, the title cards suggest captions one might find in an old photo album. They are sometimes humorous and sometimes painful, but they help move the story along.
The film relates the story of a young North-of-London lower class woman, Joy (Carol White) in the early 60s. She is a victim of her class in that she has never learned to think about aspiring higher. Yet, she does persist and survive. At the beginning of the film, Joy is in the delivery room giving birth to her son, Johnny. I'm not sure if mass Western audiences, at that time, had seen many human births, up close and on screen. So, that may have been new to movie goers at the time.
The next scene shows Joy breastfeeding Johnny while her husband, Tom (John Bindon), scolds her for exposing herself, since he was expecting his mates to drop by the house soon. There are early clues that Tom beats and abuses Joy. Although the couple is doing OK financially, things radically change when Tom and his mates rob a store and Tom is caught and sent to prison for several years.
Without marketable skills, Joy drifts from job to job (waitress, model, etc.) as she hocks all of her belongings to make ends meet. When she re- meets one of her husband's old crime mates, Dave (Terence Stamp), she falls in love with him and they live together. Unlike Tom—whom she is now trying to divorce while he is in jail--Dave is fun, kind, and loving. Some of the richest and most beautiful scenes of the film reflect the happiness of Joy and Dave. But, when he mugs a rich old woman to steal her jewelry—coupled with his record of previous run-ins with the law--he is sent to prison for twelve years.
Joy continues to think of Dave. She also writes him and visits him regularly in jail. While she swears she will wait for him, she continues to have causal affairs with other men and lives from day to day and job to job. As Johnny gets older, Joy remains stuck...
Once again, to me, this looks like a well-acted, but poorly-photographed home movie. On the other hand, I may be missing the great movie-making craft that Ken Loach seemed to deliver so well in Kes but missed here.
The film relates the story of a young North-of-London lower class woman, Joy (Carol White) in the early 60s. She is a victim of her class in that she has never learned to think about aspiring higher. Yet, she does persist and survive. At the beginning of the film, Joy is in the delivery room giving birth to her son, Johnny. I'm not sure if mass Western audiences, at that time, had seen many human births, up close and on screen. So, that may have been new to movie goers at the time.
The next scene shows Joy breastfeeding Johnny while her husband, Tom (John Bindon), scolds her for exposing herself, since he was expecting his mates to drop by the house soon. There are early clues that Tom beats and abuses Joy. Although the couple is doing OK financially, things radically change when Tom and his mates rob a store and Tom is caught and sent to prison for several years.
Without marketable skills, Joy drifts from job to job (waitress, model, etc.) as she hocks all of her belongings to make ends meet. When she re- meets one of her husband's old crime mates, Dave (Terence Stamp), she falls in love with him and they live together. Unlike Tom—whom she is now trying to divorce while he is in jail--Dave is fun, kind, and loving. Some of the richest and most beautiful scenes of the film reflect the happiness of Joy and Dave. But, when he mugs a rich old woman to steal her jewelry—coupled with his record of previous run-ins with the law--he is sent to prison for twelve years.
Joy continues to think of Dave. She also writes him and visits him regularly in jail. While she swears she will wait for him, she continues to have causal affairs with other men and lives from day to day and job to job. As Johnny gets older, Joy remains stuck...
Once again, to me, this looks like a well-acted, but poorly-photographed home movie. On the other hand, I may be missing the great movie-making craft that Ken Loach seemed to deliver so well in Kes but missed here.