Film

To support her family, a middle-aged widow joins the world’s oldest profession—story fodder for a weepy ’50s melodrama, or the genesis of an offbeat dramedy about personal reinvention. Gabarski’s casting proves inspired: Faithfull, the ’60s pop music icon who reemerged from the abyss as a serious artist is still radiant, her classic features, as ever, a camera magnet.

Faithfull’s grit, humor and appreciation of irony also surface in her role as Maggie, a mousy London suburbanite whose son and daughter-in-law can’t afford an overseas medical trip for their gravely ill little boy. Literally taking matters into her own hands, Maggie secures a job as a penile masseuse in a Soho sex parlor owned by wily émigré Miki (Manojlovic). Her success is explosive, and soon the queue of satisfied customers is so long that a rival businessman comes calling, but Maggie has eyes only for her boss.

Director Gabarski (The Rashevski Tango) builds narrative power through understatement, keeping the sex offscreen and emotions in the forefront. The weight of recent Balkan history is etched in the face of Manojlovic’s guarded entrepreneur, while Bishop as Maggie’s outraged son and Agutter as a snooty neighbor make excellent foils for the resourceful, very British heroine.