 For Alfie, the only real life is sex life; only then can he kid himself he is living. Sex is not used as the working-class boy s way to  the top . Executive status has no appeal for Alfie. Nor has class mobility. He is quite content to stay where he is, as long as the  birds  are in  beautiful condition , as he assures us they are in one of the candid, over-the-shoulder asides to the camera which the film carries over from "Tom Jones". The film shows how much of the  swinging 60 s  quality of London life was a male creation, and through the dominance of the fashion photographers, a male prerogative.