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Irina Palm (2008)
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Reviews Counted:44
Fresh:31
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: A strong performance from Faithfull anchors this perverse and lethargic -- but ultimately thought-provoking -- Garbarski drama.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong sexual content, nudity and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Mar 21, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Belgian director Sam Garbarski assembles an international cast for this thought-provoking drama. Iconic singer and actress Marianne Faithfull stars as Maggie, a middle-aged woman whose desire to... Belgian director Sam Garbarski assembles an international cast for this thought-provoking drama. Iconic singer and actress Marianne Faithfull stars as Maggie, a middle-aged woman whose desire to pay for her sick grandson's operation takes her down a path she never would have imagined. When she responds to an ad for a "hostess," Maggie soon realizes that she'll be working to fulfill men's physical desires and takes on the appropriate name "Irina Palm." Emir Kusturica favorite Miki Manojlovic costars in this film that played at the Berlin International Film Festival. [More]
Starring: Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojlovic, Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett
Starring: Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojlovic, Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett, Dorka Gryllus, Jenny Agutter, Corey Burke, Meg Wynn-Owen
Director: Sam Garbarski
Director: Sam Garbarski
Screenwriter: Martin Herron, Philippe Blasband
Story: Philippe Blasband
Producer: Sébastien Delloye, Diana Elbaum, Thanassis Karathanos, Karl Baumgartner, Jani Thiltges, Claude Waringo
Studio: Strand Releasing
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Reviews for Irina Palm
Un drama sensible y austero, no exento de cierto sentido del humor, que deja de lado cualquier aspecto sórdido del asunto para concentrarse en una historia de amor y sacrificio.
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.
Engaging, enjoyable and quietly thought-provoking British drama with a refreshingly offbeat script and a great central performance from Marianne Faithfull.
Garbarski combines social satire, hand jobs, feminism, and romantic grace to create a tenderhearted tale of found love and female empowerment. And he actually pulls it off, give the guy a hand. On second thought...
The performances will keep you watching, and make Irina Palm well worth seeing.
There’s a heartwarming quality that softens the hardcore setting but this does lack an assured, er, hand.
takes the notion of risqué empowerment a few preposterous steps further.
Irina Palm is a showcase for Faithfull but it never truly allows her to shine.
At first blush, it seems like another entry in the saucy-but-safe Brit genre, a la Calendar Girls, Saving Grace or The Full Monty, but it turns out to be both more ambitious and less successful than those diversions.
Although director and co-writer Sam Garbarski takes great care in tracing this difficult dramatic path (he has to balance the twin tracks of other people's morality and Maggie's personal course), he can't avoid the predictability.
This would never have worked with anyone else but Faithfull, who gives a touching performance even as she flaunts her 40-year metamorphosis from porcelain pop diva to elderly bad girl.
Irina Palm is saddled with an odd title, an outlandish plot and an unlikely star--notorious rock maven Marianne Faithfull cast as a suburban frump. But it turns out a success
An alleged story of determination and empowerment, about the lengths -- and girths -- a formerly timid dowager will go to in order to save someone's life.
Even if there aren't many other reasons to give this contrived and too often silly film a chance, Faithfull makes a captivating leading lady.
Gabarski's low-budget realism is nicely matched to a deceptively stolid performance by Faithfull, who combines infinitely subtle expressions with the smoky, still-sexy voice that made her famous as a '60s pop songbird.
The camera is discrete, the characters humane and the mood introspective in director Sam Garbarski's character study of a lonely woman who finds dignity where others might see only degradation.
Although Faithfull only sporadically makes movies anymore, it's hard to imagine anyone who could have done this role better.
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