A Kind of Loving

One of the significant examples of the British New Wave. Vic works as a draughtsman in an industrial town in the north. He likes Ingrid, who works at the same place, and a relationship begins. His interest fades quickly, but she becomes pregnant. They marry. The real subject is what follows. They have no home of their own; they move in with Ingrid's mother, who runs their lives. Vic is trapped, starts drinking, and the marriage deteriorates fast. The narrative produces no large event. The matter is daily life itself: a cramped house, money trouble, things that cannot be said, and a life built without being wanted. What was new for its period is that honesty: the northern working class is shown without changing the accents and without romanticising. The source is Stan Barstow's novel. Alan Bates plays Vic, June Ritchie plays Ingrid and Thora Hird the mother. John Schlesinger directed, his first feature. It won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival in 1962. An important work for anyone who likes the British New Wave and social realism. For a viewer wanting incident, the film is almost entirely daily life and the ending offers no large resolution.