Click to read the article
Comment
04/23/09
Rate this Movie 
Irina Palm (2008)
70
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojlovic, Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett
Director: Sam Garbarski
Get This Movie
Reviews for Irina Palm
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.
05/16/08
Top CriticExcuse me while I wash down the film's nasty aftertaste with some Broken English.
03/16/08
It could have been a delicately witty comedy of manners.
03/20/08
Top CriticEven if there aren't many other reasons to give this contrived and too often silly film a chance, Faithfull makes a captivating leading lady.
05/02/08
Staggeringly inane.
03/18/08
Top CriticTonally all over the place, 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.
03/24/07
takes the notion of risqué empowerment a few preposterous steps further.
06/13/08
Top Critic[A] lethargically directed comedy.
03/21/08
Top CriticAt 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.
05/30/08
A perverse male fantasy masquerading as an earnest story about a woman's life-altering experience.
03/21/08
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.
10/18/08
Scenes and characters are half-baked, merely a means to propel Maggie's character to her final flowering.
09/21/07
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.
05/14/08
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Irina Palm is, for the most part, a phony trifle, but at its heart, somehow, is a real and fascinating person.
03/24/08
Top CriticMs. Faithfull turns out to be another actress of a certain age who is well used in a film to which she lends dignity, compassion and gravitas.
03/19/08
Top CriticIrina Palm is a showcase for Faithfull but it never truly allows her to shine.
06/08/08
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.
04/11/08
Irina Palm wears its big heart right up it sleeve thanks in major part to a matronly performance from Faithfull and a low-key script for which Garbarski finds exactly the right tone.
03/21/07
Latest News for Irina Palm
August 11, 2008:
RT on DVD: New South Park, The Wire, and an Exclusive Look at Smart People,
This week we bring you an exclusive look from the DVD release of Smart People, starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Page as a father and daughter whose intellect outweighs their... More...
July 30, 2008:
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... 
More...
March 22, 2008:
Desperate widow turns to prostitution to pay grandson's medical bills in intergenerational family saga.
More...
March 20, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Drillbit Taylor Flunks; Guess Shutter's and Meet the Browns' Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've got a wacky bodyguard (Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson and Leslie Mann), a wild family reunion (Meet the Browns, starring Angela Basset and... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Animated Oscar?
Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.
Scenic Routes
The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds