One of the key films of the British New Wave, an intimate, emotionally honest portrayal of s troubled, disenfranchised young teenaged girl, Sheila (Annete Whitely) a lonely, frequently ill-tempered teen, prone to exceedingly violent temper tantrums, her erratic behaviour proving to be a great strain on her kindly, if somewhat beleaguered foster parents, especially the foster mother Anne Howland (Rachel Roberts) who finds Sheila's lack of engagement, profound solitude, wildly vacillating moods, and uncommonly sour outlook on a hard-knock world that has thus far treated her so poorly almost too much to bear. Charles Frend's genuinely fascinating, Superbly acted, ahead-of-the-curve 'Kitchen Sink' drama is in many ways quite remarkable, while not as emotionally wrecking as Ken Loach's iconic 'Cathy Come Home', it is, perhaps, cut from the very same socially conscious celluloid, and is most certainly the progenitor of Mike Leigh's more trenchant works of uncompromisingly tough, politically engaged British cinema. 'Girl on Approval' remains a laudably frank look at the stark emotional turmoil of a traumatized teenaged girl desperately railing out at a confoundingly cold world she earnestly feels has completely rejected her, and the galvanically raw performance by the fearless Annete Whitely proved to be extremely moving, this adult, boldly unsentimental B/W melodrama comes highly recommended.
