By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sam Garbarski
Starring: Dorka Gryllus | Jenny Agutter | Kevin Bishop | Marianne Faithfull | Miki Manojlovic | Siobhan Hewlett
Country: belgium, france, germany, luxembourg, united_kingdom
Year: 2008
Running time: 103
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762110/
Bruce says: “**Spoilers**
“It is impossible to write about IRINA PALM without including spoilers. There is no question that this is a film best to see without knowing anything about it. Well, that is, unless you are put off by the subject matter. In that case it is best to know something about it in advance. Maggie (Marianne Faithfull) is a widow with a very sick grandchild who, according to London doctors, needs to be taken to Australia for the treatment that will save his life. Her son Tom (Kevin Bishop) and his wife Sarah (Siobhan Hewlett) have no money. Pregnant then married when she was seventeen, Maggie has never worked a day in her life. How will she get the money to pay for saving the boy?
“The lady at the bank says, ‘No money, no loan.’ The man at the employment office tells her she has no skills. Despondent and defeated, Maggie walks down the street in Piccadilly when she spots a ‘Hostess Wanted’ sign in a window. She goes in. Miki (Miki Manojlovic), the manager asks Maggie ‘do you know what ‘hostess’ means?’ ‘Sort of,’ she replies. ‘What kind of sort of?’ he asks, going on to say that ‘‘Hostess’ is a euphemism, which means ‘use of one word for another.’ Here hostess means whore. Show me your hands.’ ‘Can you wank men off?’’ is the next question. Maggie gets up to leave but stops when she hears that she might make 600 pounds per week at the beginning and ultimately maybe 800-900 weekly with hands like hers.
“Maggie’s work area is a chair positioned just to the right of a glory hole. When she pushes a red button, a man sticks his member through the hole and, loaded with a fistful of lotion, she gets him off. Luisa (Dorka Gryllus), the woman who shows Maggie the ropes, starts losing customers as the word gets out that Maggie has the best hand in London. Miki decides she needs a stage name and puts up a sign advertising Irina Palm. Long lines form. Meanwhile her local friends in Yardley Hastings are wondering exactly where Maggie is suddenly spending all her time. So is her son. Miki shows some concern when Maggie develops what is known in the trade as ‘penis elbow.’ Maggie tells him she needs an advance and he gives it to her with the understanding that if she cheats him, he will find her and kill her. It also looks like her son might do the same if he discovers how she got the money for the family to go to Australia.
“As it happens, there are dozens of ways to film a hand job through a glory hole without actually showing any genitalia in the picture. One overhead shot shows one man after another approaching the glory hole, dropping trousers, and hanging on to an overhead bar while they bump and grind their way to climax. It’s all very tastefully presented, not salacious in the slightest. In spite of the fact that Maggie has joined the world’s oldest profession, friends and family are not impressed when they find out what she is up to. There is one exception: the child’s mother. ‘We all talk about how we love our kids and how we’d die for them. I know what that means. I’m grateful.’ While we never know exactly how things turn out we do know that Maggie’s life has changed forever and, in the end, she is proud of what she has done. Marianne Faithfull is exceptional as Maggie, a woman who has never had to confront a challenge head-on. Others in the cast are excellent as well. 4 cats”