IRINA PALM World Cinema

Rock star turned actress Marianne Faithful is mesmerizing as a woman trying to help her grandson in any way she can.

Maggie needs money urgently. Her grandson is seriously ill in the hospital, and the medication that could save his life is more than his parents can afford. Desperate, Maggie, a middle-class Londoner in her mid-50s, 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.” Along with the cash, Maggie gains renewed self-confidence, realizing that shes not as old, unattractive and useless as she thought.

With a delicate eye for detail and a keen sense of irreverence screenwriters Martin Herron and Philippe Blasband’s fiercely original script transports us into a world full of wonderfully flawed characters. Director Sam Garbaski allows his pitch-perfect cast the freedom to play with the sexy and the raw, making this an extraordinarily original film.