Poor Cow Reviews

By-the-book British realism from often interesting director Ken Loach (RIFF-RAFF). Joy (Carol White), a lumpen Cockney housewife, suffers in a dingy London flat with her swinish husband (John Bindon), a petty thief; when he's sent to jail, she moves in with Dave (Terence Stamp), who's a criminal associate of her husband. Surprisingly, Dave turns out to be a gentle and caring man who treats Joy's son with affection; but their fleeting happiness ends when Dave is also arrested. On her own, Joy ekes out a living as a barmaid and sometime nude model, treating herself to an occasional affair. She begins divorce proceedings, but when her husband is released she resolves to patch things up for the benefit of their son. While the film deserves praise for its unusual sensitivity to a woman's point of view, it's earnest to a fault and sometimes painfully dreary.