Irina Palm
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Irina Palm |
| Original title | Irina Palm |
| Country of production |
United Kingdom Belgium Luxembourg Germany France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Sam Garbarski |
| script |
Martin Herron Philippe Brass Band Sam Garbarski |
| production |
Sébastien Delloye Diana Elbaum Karl Baumgartner Thanassis Karathanos Georges van Brueghel |
| music | John Stargasm |
| camera | Philippe blow band |
| cut | Ludo Troch |
| occupation | |
| |
Irina Palm (Engl. Palm for dt. Palm, palm) is a tragicomedy of Sam Garbarski from 2007. Garbarskis second feature film is a co-production of five countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Germany and France). The main roles are played by Marianne Faithfull and Miki Manojlović . The film was shown for the first time on February 13, 2007 at the Berlinale .
action
Maggie is a simple and generous woman in her mid-fifties. Because of her poor education, she was not very successful in her life; Years after her husband's death, she continues to live as a housewife in a small English town near London . But that is exactly where a big problem lies: the financial means of her unemployed son Tom and his wife Sarah to pay for the medical treatment of Maggie's terminally ill grandson Olly are completely exhausted. For Maggie, however, it goes without saying that she will fund vital treatment. She has already sold her house for this and also got the other small town residents to donate money.
It soon turns out that the hospital is unable to cure the boy. Only treatment in Australia can bring any prospect of improvement. Since all the money has already been used up and the costs for the treatment, but not for the flight and the costs on site, are covered by the health insurance, the parents are slowly losing all hope. Maggie is therefore looking for a job for the first time in her life - initially in vain, until she discovers a sign saying " Hostess wanted - best earning opportunities". Unsuspecting but hopeful, she enters the sex club "Sexy World" in the middle of London's Soho entertainment district . She learns more about the job offer from the club owner Miki and is initially shocked. Since it is supposedly the fastest and last chance to save her little grandson Olly's life, Maggie accepts the offer to sexually satisfy men by hand at a glory hole .
On behalf of Miki, her new colleague Luisa familiarizes her with the “rules of the game”. A casual friendship quickly develops between the two women. In a relatively short time, Maggie becomes a very sought-after and well-paid woman. So that business runs even better, Miki invents the stage name "Irina Palm", which quickly gets around in the scene, as her soft hands are soon considered to be the most dexterous in all of London.
Luisa has no more chances with Maggie and is terminated, the friendship is over. Despite initial feelings of guilt, Maggie develops into a self-confident and courageous woman who no longer feels old, ugly and useless at all. She starts to dress up something again, so that even Miki now has an eye on her.
But then her small town life catches up with her, but despite her suspicious son and curious friends and neighbors, Maggie remains stubborn and remains silent about her job. However, her son is not satisfied with this and secretly follows her to the sex club after receiving £ 6,000 from her shortly before . Maggie had received the money from Miki as an advance after she had tied herself to an agreement with him for ten weeks with a handshake.
When the son finally found out where the money for the necessary trip to Australia is coming from, he insults his mother as a "whore" and tells her to stop at "Sexy World" immediately, otherwise she will never see her grandson again.
Maggie is now about to review her own morals. Since the curious friends from the neighborhood have not given up asking about her new job, Maggie confronts her with the full truth about her successful career as "Irina Palm". When a little later one of them tried to discredit Maggie in front of other customers in the village shop, she made it clear to the supposed maid of honor that she had been informed for years that her deceased husband had a secret love affair with her, the alleged friend , whereupon the blasphemer ashamed that seeks distance.
In the end, Sarah makes it clear to her husband Tom that his mother wants to save Olly's life through the job and maybe she can too, whereupon he reconciles with Maggie when he leaves for Australia. While Olly, Sarah and Tom fly to the other end of the world for treatment, Maggie goes to Miki and is greeted by the club owner in love with a long kiss in the final scene of the film.
background
- Marianne Faithfull received standing applause for 20 minutes at the world premiere at the Berlinale 2007 .
- Financing problems led to the story being set in England. Sébastien Delloye was looking for another producer and met a potential sponsor at a festival in Rotterdam who liked the script but made it a condition that the film be shot in English instead of French. For this reason, the script was rewritten with Martin Herron.
- The original script for the film was ready before Sam Garbarski wrote the book for his first feature film, The Tango of the Rashevskis .
Reviews
-
Der Tagesspiegel , February 18, 2007:
“Irina Palm” by Sam Garbarski. Confidence can have so many sources and it is never too late. This is a nice message. Taste is just a matter of courage to be unflavored. That's good news too. And how this woman speaks. As if Marianne Faithfull sings.
-
Deutschlandradio Kultur (film critic Hans-Ulrich Pönack on the Berlinale), February 15, 2007:
“Irina Palm” with Marianne Faithfull. That one was humorous, that one was funny, that one was human, that one was entertaining, and strangely enough everyone screamed and said, Hurray, Hurray, Hurray! Yes, when everyone screams out and says, Hurray, Hurray, then I ask myself - the other way around - why are there no more films like this in the competition or do they not exist? [...] So “Irina Palm” is the best example of how a very serious serious topic, a 60-year-old woman, unemployed, desperate, ends up in a porn shop [...].
-
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , June 10, 2007:
A small, wild film that always becomes as tame as a lamb when it matters, that is “Irina Palm”. And it was precisely this tameness that made him so popular at the Berlinale, where he received an ovation and was considered a favorite for the Golden Bear, even if he didn't win anything in the end. Usually the fig and the tame is a disease of producer films, where the cash tap always closes when it gets interesting in front of the camera. But “Irina Palm” is an author's project, staged and written by Sam Gabarski - so an authentic lazy compromise […] There is not a single minute in “Irina Palm” in which she is Marianne Faithfull, explained Marianne Faithfull. That's a shame, because when Faithfull was allowed to be Faithfull in front of the camera, she made films that could blow the lard off the lens of today's grandmother's cinema, and she had a guest appearance in Chéreau's “Intimacy” that was like a distant echo that time worked. In “Irina Palm” she is above all nice and good. One would like to shake hands with such a woman. Or take off the apron. Let's forget the rest.
- Lexicon of the International Film : “ An amusing as well as touching tragic-comedy, played virtuously in the leading role, which, despite the smoothness of the staging, always retains its rough edges. As thoughtful as it is satirically pleasurable, the film plays with the bigoted moral ideas of the British bourgeoisie. "
Awards
In 2007 the film was represented in the competition at the Berlin Film Festival , where it had to admit defeat in the race for the Golden Bear for the best film at the festival, Wang Quan'an's drama Tuya's wedding , but won the award of the Berliner Morgenpost readers' jury. Marianne Faithfull, one of the favorites on the Silver Bear for Best Actress , was left behind when compared to Nina Hoss ( Yella ). Faithfull and Miki Manojlović were nominated as best actors at the presentation of the 20th European Film Prize on December 1, 2007 in Berlin .
The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg via Irina Palm - Link no longer works! ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Deutschlandfunk Kultur, February 15, 2007
- ↑ June 10, 2007, No. 23 / page 26; Andreas Kilb
- ^ Journal film-dienst and Catholic Film Commission for Germany (eds.), Horst Peter Koll and Hans Messias (ed.): Lexikon des Internationale Films - Filmjahr 2007 . Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-89472-624-9
- ↑ cf. Zander, Peter: Golden Bear for "Tuya's marriage" . In: Berliner Morgenpost , February 18, 2007, issue 48/2007, culture, p. 21
- ↑ cf. Everything by hand . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 15, 2007, film page, p. 12
- ↑ cf. Lerf, Matthias: The stars got it cold . In: SonntagsZeitung , February 18, 2007, Nachrichten, On the topic, p. 15
