Room at the top (1959)

Love or money? We've seen millions of films on these theme, some of which are pretty good, other again floundering in the sentimental and schmaltzy lane. Room at the top (Jack Clayton) belongs in the first category. It offers no tidy solutions. Instead, it offers bad choices, deluded thinking and a bleak view on life. Joe lands a job in a small town where everybody knows each other. It's after the war, and the scars of the war are still visible, also in the geography (Joe's home was bombed and the surrounding area is now in the state of garbage heap). Joe is from the working class, and it is his intention to get the hell outta there. This, he thinks, he will do through winning a young girl's heart - to get into her daddy's purse. He is determined enough, no hesitation there - until it's too late. At the same time, he dates a French girl, a few years older than him, who has a dirty reputation. This is the kind of film in which cruelty is an aspect of almost every relation - from business relations to relations between lovers. The message seems to be: self-deception feeds on itself, creating an even deeper level of self-deception, from which it is hard to get away. It is also a film in which society is seen as strongly divided into classes, even though some people try to conjure up "a different age". Money talks, bullshit walks and the taste of first love is sweet but mostly rotten. Room at the top is an angry film about a world of disenchantment and YOU should watch it.