Irina Palm (2007)

Director:

Sam Garbarski

Writers:

Martin Herron (writer) and
Philippe Blasband (writer) ...

Release Date:

18 April 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Maggie, a 50-year-old widow - still faithful to her dead husband, desperately needs some money to pay for a medical treatment for her ill grandson...

Plot Keywords:

Child In Peril | Sick Child | Financial Problem | Little Boy | Hospital

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Marianne Faithfull	...	Maggie aka Irina Palm
Miki Manojlovic	...	Miki
Kevin Bishop	...	Tom
Siobhan Hewlett	...	Sarah
Dorka Gryllus	...	Luisa
Jenny Agutter	...	Jane
Corey Burke	...	Ollie
Meg Wynn Owen	...	Julia
Susan Hitch	...	Beth
Flip Webster	...	Edith
Tony O'Brien	...	Shopkeeper
Jules Werner	...	Doctor
Ann Queensberry	...	1st Old Lady
June Bailey	...	2nd Old Lady
Jonathan Coyne	...	Dave

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and language.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Belgium | Luxembourg | UK | Germany | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Singapore:M18 | Japan:R-15 | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Finland:K-15 | USA:R | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Germany

Company:

Ateliers de Baere

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Cuenta atrás: Antigua fábrica de cerveza, 20:06 horas (#2.11)" (2008)

A beautiful triumph!

A charitable and moving tale about a woman who unselfishly compromises her dignity in order to save her grandchild's life.

The middle-aged window Maggie lives a quiet life in suburban England. She has a restrained relationship to her son Tom and his wire Sarah. The light of her life is her grandchild Olly who recently has become seriously ill. Maggie does her best to help, but the employers are not exactly waiting in line for a middle-aged woman with no education worth mentioning. When all family-members learn that there are no English specialist able to treat Olly and the only solution is leaving for Melborne to find the necessary treatment, they have to find a way to raise enough Money for the trip. The next day Maggie sees an advertisement on the window of a sex-club where a hostess is wanted. Maggie meets up with the owner and it doesn't take long before she's offered the job. Even though Maggies knew job is far from what she expected it to be, she Accepts it because of Olly. In a short period of time Maggie achieves a good reputation and gets well paid. She also finds a good friend in single-mom Louisa and seems to be getting a long fine in her new business. But people in the neighborhood are staring to question Maggies sudden change in behavior and Maggie realizes that sooner or later she will have to confront her friends with their prejudice and revalue her own morals.

Sam Garbarski delivers one of the most authentic descriptions of everyday-life since Ken Loachs "Ladybird,Ladybird"(1994) and Mike Leighs " Secrets and Lies"(1996). The films balanced handling of it's topics gives the viewer time to reflect. The gentle pace and realistic performances contributes to create a movie-experience with deep human insight. The whole movie is filled with a underlying aura of empathy and love that shines through in this wonderful film.