It's amazing how far people might go to save a sick child. They would sell their homes and possessions, but even then that may not be enough. In Irina Palm, Maggie, a fifty-year-old grandmother, is willing to accept what she sees as a degrading, humiliating job, finding not only the money she needs, but also a new outlook on life and new love.

Faced with a huge cost to have her grandson Ollie get life-saving treatment in Australia, Maggie goes looking for work. She has no skills or work experience, but sees a sign at Sexy World that says a hostess is needed. The owner explains to her that "hostess" is a euphemism that really means whore. But he notices that she has very soft hands, just the kind of hand that could be used in this business. She leaves in disgust, but as Ollie gets weaker, she is determined to do what it takes to save him; she goes back to Sexy World and takes a job in which she masturbates men through a hole in the wall. It turns out she is very good at this. The lines to her booth grow night after night. Soon, with the stage name Irina Palm, she is the talk of the town (at least the sex business segment of the population.)

It is one thing to put a dollar amount on what we would do to save a child, quite another to give something of oneself. In this case, Maggie sets aside her dignity and pride—even her sense of shame. Although the film is very nonjudgmental about the sex industry, there are voices in the film that bring out the assessment that many people have of sex workers and sex clubs. Even Maggie enters into this job with a sense of disgust, but soon she finds that she can do this without moralizing about herself or her clients. In fact, she grows to have a sense of pride in the knowledge that she is the best.

What makes this film work is Maggie's character. Portrayed by Marianne Faithfull, Maggie is a self-described frump who blossoms through her experience. The audience is drawn to her because we can sense her goodness. She is loving and generous. Even when her daughter-in-law is hostile, Maggie reacts with grace. While her son and daughter-in-law see no way of getting the needed treatment, Maggie goes outside the bounds of her comfort to get the money they need. Nothing will stand in the way of saving Ollie. Even if all the world turns against her, she will persist—and in the end, her perseverance gains not only the goal she sought, but the respect and love of those who know her... and of the audience.

In watching Maggie descend into what seems like a depth of degradation, I was reminded of the many ways Jesus was humiliated in the Passion stories. Stripped, beaten, tortured to death, he withstood all for the goal of reconciling humankind to God.

It is often easy for us to go into debt or to give something special to a loved one. But when we empty ourselves as Jesus emptied himself, we can know that there are no depths that Jesus will not descend to in order to be with us. Then he can lift us up so that our humiliation can become our crown.