IRINA PALM
Belgium/UK, 2006, 103 minutes, Colour.
Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojolic, Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett, Dorka Gryllus, Jenny Agutter.
Directed by Sam Garbarski.
In the Belgian Irina Palm which was set in London (and filmed in Luxembourg), Marianne Faithful gives a performance than many thought would win the Best Actress award in Berlin 2007. But she did not win. Seeing Marianne Faithful as a 60 year old suburban, rather frumpish widow, is a shock, especially as she is so convincing. When her sick little grandson needs an expensive operation in Australia she decides she will find the money but going to work.
To her amazement, she finishes up in a sex club in Soho, making the option to service the clients after her original shock and distaste. She soon achieves a reputation and is given the name Irina Palm.
One of the effects of seeing this film about a sordid world is the realisation than while the ugliness and vice continue, there is some transcendence shining through the sordid. The ageing woman becomes friend with the Balkan manager of the club (Miki Manojlovic) and the friendship transforms them both. On the other side, there is the moral dilemma that the son and his wife have to face, the son angrily rejecting his mother and her money at first, the daughter-in-law appreciating what she has done. While the synopsis might sound like an illness telemovie of the week, the hard edge of the situations and characters give it more substance.
1. A multinational production? The UK setting, characters, issues? The continental film-makers and their perspective on the UK?
2. The opening with the aerial view of the English countryside? Homes, the village, shops? The hospital? Soho, its realism, Oxford Circus and Oxford Street, the club, the interiors? The musical score, the dances, the songs?
3. The title and its evocation?
4. Audiences disliking the plot – or appreciating how there can be transcendence through the sordid?
5. The plausibility of the plot: illness, the reality, the child, the need for money, the trip to Australia? Maggie and her wanting to help? Noticing the ‘hostess’ sign, what it led to in terms of interviews, her sexual activity, her expertise, reputation, the relationship with Miki? On her family? Saving her grandson?
6. The moral dilemmas? The good and the end justifying the means? The reality of the sex industry? The controls, Maggie’s actual role and performance, the relative value (immorality) of her activity? The money? Should it have been used or not?
7. Ollie, his illness, five years, the need for the operation? His parents and their love for their son? The pressure on themselves, tension, Sarah and her criticism? Tom and his dependence on his mother? Their visits to the hospital? Maggie and her visits, Ollie enjoying them, the toys, his need for her visits, the issue of the secrets? The end – and the flight to Australia? Sentiment?
8. Marianne Faithfull as Maggie, initially with her friends in the village, playing cards, gossip, the phone calls? Edith and the people in the shop? Buying the ordinary things, toys for Ollie? Her arm in the sling and their curiosity and questions? Her friends wondering about her job? Her finally telling them the truth? The wealthy women and their curiosity about sexual matters? Jane and her cutting off Maggie? Asking her would she have told Trevor? Maggie telling Jane publicly that she knew about her affair and that Trevor had confessed?
9. Maggie’s story, pregnant at seventeen, no future with her family, marrying Trevor, living with him, the death of the baby? Her life, Thomas’s birth, unexpected? Trevor’s death? Her being a widow for years?
10. Sarah as hard, tense with Thomas? The issue of the money, her final apology to Maggie? Accepting the money, grateful to her? Tom and his being in and out of his mother’s house, Sarah’s taunts, the mystery of the money, her refusing to answer the question, her secret with Ollie, his following her, seeing Sexy World, his entering in? The scenes of his confrontation, denunciation, anger and shouting, insulting his mother? His giving in at the end? Credible?
11. Maggie and her job, noticing the request for a hostess, meeting Miki, the euphemism? The explanation, Luisa and her friendship, the demonstration, teaching Maggie? Maggie and her distaste at the first time? The questions, whether she should continue, her return? Wearing an apron, with the tissues, then bringing the picture of the flowers? Miki’s comment about decorating the place? The promise of the money, Miki wanting her to earn more, the softness of her hands, the success with the clients, going out with Luisa and talking, listening to Luisa’s story? Then experiencing Luisa’s anger, Maggie pleading for her, Miki saying it was just business? Her going to visit Luisa, seeing her son, the door slammed in her face? Day by day, her success, the queues getting longer? The opposition being interested in Maggie, inviting her over, the piazza for Irina Palm? The stage name? The talk with Miki? The scenes of her going to work, Oxford Circus station, going home, the local station, her friends wondering what it was about?
12. Miki and his story, his wife going to America, his ambitions, running the club, not wanting to be poor? The issues of money, Maggie’s hands, giving her the job, paying, business and personal? Giving her the loan? Her paying it off week by week? His concern when she didn’t turn up on time? Walking with her, it becoming personal between them?
13. The issue of whether she would go to Australia, Sarah offering the ticket, her packing, the decision not to go? The farewell to Ollie?
14. Her return to Soho, to Miki – and some kind of affection, even love?
15. The picture of the clients, the dances, the clients and the money? The sordid world of Soho and sex?
16. The sordid nature of the story, how it was treated? The issue of some kind of transcendence being possible even through a sordid world?
