Click to read the article
Comment
06/13/08
Irina Palm (2008)
72 %
Reviews Counted: 39 Fresh: 28 Rotten:11 Average Rating: 6.1/10
Consensus:
A strong performance from Faithfull anchors this perverse and lethargic -- but ultimately thought-provoking -- Garbarski drama.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating]
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Theatrical Release: 13-06-2008
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 pay for her sick grandson's operation takes her down a path she never would have imagined.... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Marianne Faithfull, Miki Manojlovic, Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett, Dorka Gryllus
Director: Sam Garbarski
Screenwriter: Martin Herron, Philippe Blasband
Story: Philippe Blasband
Producer: Sébastien Delloye, Diana Elbaum, Thanassis Karathanos, Karl Baumgartner, Jani Thiltges, Claude Waringo
Screenwriter: Martin Herron, Philippe Blasband
Story: Philippe Blasband
Producer: Sébastien Delloye, Diana Elbaum, Thanassis Karathanos, Karl Baumgartner, Jani Thiltges, Claude Waringo
Reviews
Top Critic
The performances will keep you watching, and make Irina Palm well worth seeing.
06/13/08
takes the notion of risqué empowerment a few preposterous steps further.
06/13/08
Irina Palm is a showcase for Faithfull but it never truly allows her to shine.
06/08/08
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.
05/30/08
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
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.
05/16/08
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
05/15/08
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
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.
05/02/08
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.
04/11/08
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
Although Faithfull only sporadically makes movies anymore, it's hard to imagine anyone who could have done this role better.
04/11/08
Far from the exploitation movie that you'd expect from its subject matter, "Irina Palm" is a significant piece of cinematic satire that comes straight from the heart.
04/08/08
Genially preposterous and pleasantly diverting, it balances calculation against humanity and generally comes out on top.
03/28/08
Top Critic
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 Critic
Director Sam Garbarski must like his early Neil Jordan and Stephen Frears, since Irina Palm plays like a throwback to gritty-but-softhearted English dramas of the 1980s like Mona Lisa and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.
03/21/08
Remember Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull as a youthful rock ‘n’ roll power couple in 1960s London? Now both wrinkly, he’s still singing and prancing; she’s become an accomplished actress, judging by her role in Sam Garbarksi’s ironic Irina Palm.
03/21/08
Pictures
News
Critics Consensus: Drillbit Taylor Flunks; Guess Shutter's and Meet the Browns' Tomatometer!
posted by Tim Ryan March 20, 2008
This week at the movies, we've got a wacky bodyguard (Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson and Leslie Mann), a wild...
posted by Tim Ryan March 20, 2008
This week at the movies, we've got a wacky bodyguard (Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson and Leslie Mann), a wild...
Around the Network
• Irina Palm at Rotten Tomatoes
IGN RSS Feeds