A young woman lives a life filled with bad choices. At a young age she marries and has a child--with an abusive thief who quickly ends up in prison. Left alone, she takes up with the guy's mate, another thief, who seems to give her some happiness but who also ends up locked up. She then takes up with a series of seedy types who offer nothing but momentary pleasure--if that.
Direction
Loach's debut already knows how to break your heart.
Acting
Carol White's face does all the script's heavy lifting.
Cinematography
Handheld intimacy that invented social realism on screen.
Director
Ken Loach
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Coined 'kitchen sink realism' for cinema—gritty working-class stories that made British New Wave internationally influential.
Loach hated the studio-mandated upbeat ending so much he removed his name; the final freeze-frame was his compromise to suggest ambiguity.
GB
