This film has a very simplistic plot synopsis, which is not dissimilar to the very good Serbian film Klopka (which I reviewed here : http://inthemoodforblog.blog.co.uk/2008/01/13/klopka_the_trap~3570325) in that both use the cost of funding a child's medical expenses as a vehicle to force relatives into a position of compromise. In the Serbian film the child's father was asked to kill someone for the money, in Irina Palm the child's grandmother (played by Marianne Faithfull) finds herself giving hand-jobs in a sex-shop to fund the endeavour.
So the script is of course revelling in the salacious nature of the subject matter. It's also very episodic in that in the first five minutes we see that the child is dying, then in the next five minutes we find out the last hope for him is in Australia and the family needs to pay for expenses, five minutes later we've been through Faithfull's inability to find work culminating in the offer at the sex shop, she spends another 5 minutes deciding whether to do it or not, the next five minutes is her being shown how to do the job, then the next five minutes is her working alone.
The acting is fine, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Faithfull plays it very straight indeed with a restrained turn and the owner of the club, Miki Manojlovic (who, coincidentally - Americans would say "ironically" and they'd be wrong 
- was also in Klopka playing the person who tempts our protagonist into a morally dubious situation) broods nicely yet offers chinks into a softer side. Kevin Bishop, who I enjoyed greatly in the Cédric Klapisch films Pot Luck and Russian Dolls, has an underwritten role for what he's being asked to do dramatically as Faithfull's son, but I thought he did the best with what he could.
The problem though is the screenplay, there's no real arc as you've got 30 or 40 minutes in and there's still an hour to go yet seemingly all that can possibly happen dramatically is either she wants to quit her job (thus compromising the money) or her family find out. They do introduce, happily, a couple of other possibilites but sadly they are merely hinted at then totally dropped. This is the problem with the story, it wanders and displays a lack of craft or focus.
So in the end the film is alright, it's got a decent modern score, the photography is occasionally interesting and the performances are all fine. The trouble is though the final third of the film descends into chaos as the episodic nature of the writing sparks off things which make you question the likelihood of it all, and also sometimes the tone completely slips and you're into what can only be described as comedy. At one point Faithfull's character explains, "He's dying, I'm wanking ... it's a mess!" It's not too harsh to suggest that that's not far off aptly describing the film, but it is not without merit.