Marianne Faithfull Stars in Irina Palm

Although the movie Irina Palm, released in 2007, is occasionally slow moving in places I found myself entranced by the storyline. People always say they would do anything for their children but when it comes down to it, will they really?

Maggie is a dowdy, loving grandmother, portrayed by Marianne Faithfull, who tries in vain to find employment. The money is needed to fund expenses for a medical procedure to save her dying grandson. After being turned down over and over, a poster in a Soho sex shop catches her eye. "Hostess Wanted." The owner of Sexy World explains to her that "hostess" is a euphemism for whore. Looks or age don't matter for the job he has in mind for her. She would sit in a room next to a hole in the wall and on the other side a man would put his penis in the hole. Irina Palm becomes Maggie's stage name when she becomes, in her own words, "the wanking widow" at the London sex shop. No penises are actually seen in the movie and it isn't necessary. In fact, if they had shown penises in the "glory hole" it would have seemed gratuitous.

Truth be told, I didn't even realize it was Marianne Faithfull until I saw the credits and it probably biased my opinion of the movie, making me like it more. I've always thought of Faithfull as the flamboyant, edgy, rocker she was in the 60's who sang with a whiskey soaked voice about her tormented relationship with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. In the late 1990's she played the role of God in Edina's dreams in Absolutely Fabulous.

In my opinion, it takes acting courage and talent to play the less than appealing roles where the character might not be very pretty or exciting. Roles like that stay with me longer and make me think. Not everyone in the world is a hot looking model or actress and it becomes tiresome to constantly see people portrayed that way in the movies. It's no wonder that so many people have complexes about the way they look. So, to see Faithfull as this boring 60ish grandmother who loves her son and grandson so much that she is willing to do something distasteful to her, is indeed thought provoking.