Irina Palm

Maggie needs money urgently. Her grandson is seriously ill in hospital, and the medication that could save his life is way beyond what his parents can afford. She will have to come up with an idea soon if she is to give her son and daughter-in-law fresh hope.

Desperate, Maggie, a middle-class Londoner in her mid-fifties, finds herself responding to a temptingly lucrative job offer at a sex club. At “Sexy World”, the shy but sprightly widow meets the club’s charming manager, Miki, who gently introduces her to her tasks as a “hostess”. Her new colleague, Luisa, acquaints her with the rules of the game and, before long, the conscientious Maggie becomes the much sought after and well-paid “Irina Palm”. Along with the cash, Maggie gains renewed self-confidence, realising that she’s not as old, unattractive and useless as she had believed herself to be.

But then it transpires that her clandestine existence begins to raise the suspicions of both her son and her inquisitive neighbours alike. Yet even when everything comes to light, Maggie refuses to let this get her down…

Berlin Film Festival Programme

*Screening with the short film, The Wednesdays