Irina Palm

Last updated

Irina Palm
Irinapalmposter.JPG
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sam Garbarski
Screenplay by
Produced bySébastien Delloye
Starring
Cinematography Christophe Beaucarne
Edited by Ludo Troch
Music by Ghinzu
Production
companies
  • Entre Chien et Loup
  • Pallas Film
  • Samsa Film
  • Ipso Facto Films
  • Liaison Cinématographique
  • Ateliers de Baere
  • RTBF Television
Distributed by
  • Paradiso Entertainment (Belgium)
  • Pyramide Distribution (France)
Release dates
  • 13 February 2007 (2007-02-13)(Berlinale)
  • 18 April 2007 (2007-04-18)(Belgium)
  • 9 May 2007 (2007-05-09)(France)
Running time
103 minutes
Countries
  • Belgium
  • Germany
  • Luxembourg
  • United Kingdom
  • France
LanguageEnglish
Budget€4.3 million [1] (or $4.5 million) [2]
Box office$10.6 million [3]

Irina Palm is a 2007 tragicomedy film directed by Sam Garbarski from a screenplay by Martin Herron and Philippe Blasband. It is an international co-production between Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and France. It stars Marianne Faithfull as a senior-aged woman whose desire to pay for her sick grandson's operation takes her down a path she never would have imagined. Miki Manojlović, Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett, Dorka Gryllus, and Jenny Agutter appear in supporting roles.

Contents

The film had its world premiere at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2007, and was theatrically released in Belgium on 18 April 2007, by Paradiso Entertainment. It grossed over $10.6 million worldwide against a $4.5 million budget. It received mixed reviews from critics, who mostly praised Faithfull's performance, but criticized Garbarski's direction and the screenplay. At the 20th European Film Awards, Faithfull and Manojlović were nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively.

Plot

The 60-year-old widow Maggie desperately needs money for the cost of traveling to Australia for a special medical treatment of her beloved ill grandson Olly. After several unsuccessful attempts to get a job, she finds herself in the streets of Soho. Her eye is caught by poster in the window of a shop called Sexy World: "Hostess wanted." She enters, and Miki, the owner of the shop, explains to her frankly that "hostess" is a euphemism for "whore." The job he has for her is one for which age and being visually attractive are not important: a male customer inserts his penis in a hole in a wall (glory hole), and she, at the other side, gives a handjob. Her colleague, Luisa, shows her how to do it, and after the first hesitation, she quickly develops good skills. However, she keeps her work secret from friends and family, which leads to uncomfortable situations. After a while, she tells some friends. They are quite interested and ask various details.

Under the pseudonym Irina Palm, she becomes increasingly more successful and well-paid, 600 to 800 pounds a week. However, the health of her grandson deteriorates quickly, therefore she asks and receives an advance payment of 6000 pounds for 10 weeks of work. She gives the money to her son Tom without telling how she got it. He follows her to learn about the source of the money, and is furious when he discovers what she does. He wants her to never go there again and says he will himself return the money and not go to Australia. However, his wife, Sarah, is thankful to Maggie for her sacrifice to save the boy. Tom and Maggie reconcile and Tom, Sarah, and Olly go to Australia.

Luisa is fired due to Maggie's success. She is very angry at Maggie. A competitor of Miki's offers Maggie a better job, as supervisor of prostitutes in a room with multiple glory holes. She would get 15% of their earnings. She hesitates but eventually declines the offer; becoming a madam is a step too far for her. Maggie and Miki eventually fall in love with each other.

Cast

Sam Garbarski, Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojlovic and Kevin Bishop at the premiere of Irina Palm Cast of Irina Palm.jpg
Sam Garbarski, Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojlović and Kevin Bishop at the premiere of Irina Palm

Production

Irina Palm was produced by Sébastien Delloye for Entre Chien et Loup (Belgium), in co-production with Pallas Film (Germany), Samsa Film (Luxembourg), Ipso Facto Films (United Kingdom), Liaison Cinématographique (France), Ateliers de Baere (Belgium), and RTBF Television (Belgium). [4]

Director Sam Garbarski said about his choice to shoot the film in English:

It would have been very easy to make a satirical comedy or to fall into the trap of vulgarity. What I like in tragicomedy is the poetry of humour. And the English language, regardless of its socio-cultural links, portrays a fabulous humoristic outlook on life. This quality for self-derision is very dear and very important to me. It gave the film that little bit extra. We wouldn't have had that dimension, this subtle humour, if we had made the film in French. [5]

Irina Palm was three years in the making, [6] and principal photography lasted eight weeks. [1] The film was shot in Soho and around London, England for the exterior scenes, with studio work and interior scenes filmed in Leipzig, Germany and in Luxembourg. [7]

Release

Irina Palm premiered in the main competition section of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2007. [8] International sales were handled by Pyramide International. [9] The film was released in Belgium by Paradiso Entertainment on 18 April, in France by Pyramide Distribution on 9 May, and in Germany by X Verleih AG on 14 June 2007. [10]

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 65% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.0/10.The website's consensus reads: "A strong performance from Faithfull anchors this perverse and lethargic — but ultimately thought-provoking — Garbarski drama." [11] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [12]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 1 out of 5 stars and called it "a gobsmackingly awful British film - awful in the way that somehow only British films can be: our TV drama, of whatever quality, is never as creaky, naive, badly written and flatulent as this." [13]

A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated, "Irina Palm does rise slightly above the silly clichés embedded in its story. This is mostly because of Marianne Faithfull." Scott also commented, "The rather shopworn plot of Irina Palm is buoyed by Mr. Garbarski's sense of realism — he manages to make the movie look and feel as if it were a slice-of-life drama rather than a preposterous fable — and above all by Ms. Faithfull." [14]

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Irina Palm as "a sentimental film with a raunchy premise" and opined, "Genially preposterous and pleasantly diverting, it balances calculation against humanity and generally comes out on top." [15]

Jonathan Romney of Screen Daily noted, "The film's overall tone is solmenly downbeat, with morose music underscoring the pathos, and Christophe Beaucarne's lensing concentrating on dark hues more suited to a moodier art-house drama." [16]

Leslie Felperin of Variety remarked, "Pic is built around a would-be humorous script, but jiggery lensing and gloomy lighting suggest helmer Sam Garbarski is under some delusion that he's making a slice of gritty realism with romantic undertones." [17]

Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a "crowd-pleasing comedy-drama" and lauded the performances of Manojlović and Faithfull, writing that "Manojlovic deserves high praise for his handling of the club owner's reluctant corruption, but it is Faithfull's compassionate and knowing performance that will leave audiences smiling." [18]

Anthony Quinn of The Independent opined, "Garbarski is hobbled by a woeful script, some very uncertain acting and a chorus of behatted biddies who never, ever seem to leave the village post-office. It's a collector's item, all the same." [19]

Accolades

At the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, Irina Palm was awarded the Berliner Morgenpost Readers' Prize. [20] At the 20th European Film Awards, the film garnered two nominations: Best Actress (for Faithfull) and Best Actor (for Manojlović). [21] It won Best European Film at the 53rd David di Donatello Awards, but also received 2008's inaugural Irina Palm d'Or for Worst British Film. [22]

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References

  1. 1 2 Feuillère, Anne (18 April 2007). "Irina Palm". Cineuropa . Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "Berlin buzz - updated with reviews". Screen Daily . 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  3. ↑ "Irina Palm". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  4. ↑ "Irina Palm". British Council Film. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  5. ↑ Bouras, Dimitra; Feuillère, Anne (18 April 2007). "Interview: Sam Garbarski • Director | "A politically incorrect romantic tragicomedy"". Cineuropa . Archived from the original on 25 November 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  6. ↑ Feuillère, Anne (18 April 2007). "Interview: Sébastien Delloye • Producer | "Textbook case"". Cineuropa . Archived from the original on 25 November 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  7. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (23 March 2007). "United Kingdom - Soho story". Screen Daily . Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  8. ↑ "Irina Palm | Competition 2007". Berlinale . Archived from the original on 26 May 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  9. ↑ "IRINA PALM". Pyramide Films. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "IRINA PALM". Cineuropa . Archived from the original on 27 December 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  11. ↑ "Irina Palm". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 29 December 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2024. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  12. ↑ "Irina Palm". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  13. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (13 June 2008). "Irina Palm". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  14. ↑ Scott, A. O. (21 March 2008). "Escaping a Meek Old Age With an Erotic New Job". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  15. ↑ Turan, Kenneth (28 March 2008). "Against the odds, sentimentality becomes 'Irina'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  16. ↑ Romney, Jonathan (14 February 2007). "Irina Palm". Screen Daily . Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  17. ↑ Felperin, Leslie (13 February 2007). "Irina Palm". Variety . Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  18. ↑ Bennett, Ray (13 February 2007). "Irina Palm". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  19. ↑ Quinn, Anthony (13 June 2008). "Irina Palm (15)". The Independent . Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  20. ↑ Hernandez, Eugene (17 February 2007). "BERLIN '07 | "Tuya's Wedding" Wins Golden Bear at '07 Berlinale; Joseph Cedar Wins Directing Prize". IndieWire . Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  21. ↑ "Irina Palm". European Film Awards . Archived from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  22. ↑ McCahill, Mike (26 November 2010). "The Irina Palm d'Or: And the loser is …". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
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