Irma Vep (1996)

Director:

Olivier Assayas

Writer:

Olivier Assayas (written by)

Release Date:

30 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Rene Vidal, a director in decline, decides to remake Louis Feuillade's silent serial "Les Vampires."...

Plot Keywords:

Anagram | Actress | Journalist | Director | Cat Burglar

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Maggie Cheung	...	Herself
Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	René Vidal
Nathalie Richard	...	Zoé
Antoine Basler	...	Journalist
Nathalie Boutefeu	...	Laure
Alex Descas	...	Desormeaux
Dominique Faysse	...	Maïté
Arsinée Khanjian	...	L'américaine
Bernard Nissile	...	Markus
Olivier Torres	...	Ferdinand / Moreno
Bulle Ogier	...	Mireille
Lou Castel	...	José Mirano
Jacques Fieschi	...	Roland
Estelle Larrivaz	...	La standardiste
Balthazar Clémenti	...	Robert, assistant

Also Known As:

Vampire (France) (trailer title)
Irma Vep (Argentina) [es]

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:M | UK:15 (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Finland:S | France:U | Norway:7 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:11

Company:

Dacia Films

Trivia:

The title is the anagram of "vampire".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jose drinks his beer at the restaurant, he finishes it off. But then in the next shot he refinishes the same beer before the waiter brings him a new one.

Movie Connections:

References Dung fong saam hap (1993)

Soundtrack:

Bonnie and Clyde

Surprisingly entertaining

I just watched Irma Vep last night. And I have to say that I enjoyed watching this movie for many reasons. Evidently Maggie is one of the reasons. Beautiful of course and good actress to boot. But beyond that, we have a lot of other things that kept my interest alive all along. This movie presents a self examination of French movie making, thereby justifying the accusation of "nombrilisme" (narcissism) by the reporter interviewing Maggy. This seems to be one of the themes here. A close look at the movie making process in France where a certain lack of coordination seems to be the rule, where a director launches the movie making only based on a whim. And in this case, it's the idea of having Maggie Cheung play the main role of a character in a remake of a 1915 silent movie. What really becomes interesting is the way she gets into the role and really becomes Irma. But I will leave you to discover how and when. At any rate, the movie has the funny effect to make you wonder if French movie making is in that bad a state that it can come up with such an interesting product.