After WW2, poor people on the background. Feminist long before women fight. They need kind of love, get the dress, married. opportunities for poor people to become artist. Youth, hanging out. In Antonioni's movie, characters need work, never fulfilled, in lack, unhappy.
"Full credit to Hardy and Knight...Low-budget film-makers could learn a lot from their method. And yet – having stripped away all but the bare necessities, having reduced the components to a car and a man – they make a classic error of overcompensation." - Xan Brooks, Guarduian