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17 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :- Maggie Cheung and the embers of the French Avant-Garde, 8 October 2004 Author: Joshua Martin (jdm101@gmail.com) from Melbourne, Australia
Irma Vep is a film about film-making, an insightful and disturbing film which delivers some beautiful voyeuristic glimpses of vampirism, realist cinema, gritty black-and-white cine-retro and the old men who were once the chic of the French avant-garde film clique.IMDb says: "Rene Vidal, a director in decline, decides to remake Louis Feuillade's silent serial Les Vampires" but this summary does not mention the real star of the film - Hong Kong kung-fu actress Maggie Cheung, playing herself. She is perfect as the exotic object, the ephemeral other, the object of desire who finds herself at the centre of the film's obsessive and sexually driven visual vortex.In the privacy of her hotel room, Maggie Cheung zips herself into a full-body black latex catsuit which is going to be her vampire costume on the film set the next day. Maybe she is just getting into character, or maybe she shares something of the director's fascination with nocturnal life... predatory sexuality... visual fixation... the bound female form... anyway, the film really comes to life as she creeps through the hotel, her haunting feline eyes piercing through the spooky-sexy costume... the suspense here is that she is enacting her own vampire fantasy, of her own accord, not under the director's gaze. Maggie Cheung, all alone, on the roof, in the rain, exploring her own version of a male fantasy sequence. This is an unforgettable moment in art-house cinema.The film really does justice to its themes, with the male characters degenerating from visionaries into voyeurs, and the female characters showing real depth in their willingness to accommodate the male gaze without losing their savvy post-fem powers. If you are a predictable guy like me, you will love the French-Asian grrrl power, which gives the film a pulse.The theme of visual obsession is presented very well: the director is shouting, the cameras are rolling, and Maggie Cheung, in her catsuit, is ready to suck blood. In these moments she is bound but free, powerless but in control, objectified but liberated. I suppose this makes the film contentious and provocative, but I thought the message was very clear.Without spoiling the end of the film: the last five minutes of Irma Vep is totally unique. You will never see another film which ends like this one. I can only describe it as a profoundly futile gesture, an act of great passion and impotence, and a brilliant moment in Lettrist art. It is Rene Vidal's last stand, a terrible but beautiful moment caught on celluloid: the work of a madman? a savant? a genius? you can decide, but I am sure you will agree that Irma Vep does a lot more than just scratch the surface of modern film art.If you like Irma Vep, check out Shadow Of The Vampire as well.
8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :- A well-constructed, pleasant surprise., 22 May 2001 Author: kergillian (kergillian@hotmail.com) from Montreal, Canada
Maggie Cheung or not, I didn't expect much out of this film. But I was quite pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. For one, to get someone to play themselves in a lead role in a fictional film (Jackie Chan films and Roy Rogers aside;) is usually a risky thing to do. But Cheung fits in beautifully, and is so charming that she is obviously perfectly cast.The film is in English and French, and even though the French is subtitled, I think it's easier to get caught up in the flow of the film if you understand both (I'm fluent in French and didn't have a problem, but I can see where it might be overly distracting). Some scenes seemed particularly important for one to be constantly looking away from the action, so to speak.The film was a little long, and some scenes probably could have been cut down or cut altogether, but it gives a good view into French film-making, especially the snobbish elitism that is apparently common in more intellectual/artistic film circles. It's hysterically funny at some points, and the characterization of the different crew members is brilliantly portrayed.I especially loved the scene where Maggie Cheung gets into characters by actually prowling around as a cat burglar (though she throws away her booty;)Overall: a tight, well done film. It drags just a bit at points, but strong acting and strong writing help to overcome such lags. A pleasant surprise and a fun film! 8/10.
5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Sexy, funny, smart, sad, EXCELLENT., 22 May 1999 Author: Will Robinson Sheff (wsheff@hotmail.com) from Austin, TX
Unlike Scoopy, I say this movie is WELL worth the effort and time, especially if you're familiar with the French New Wave. Jean-Pierre Leaud, one of the biggest stars of the period (he was the little boy in Francois Truffaut's seminal "The 400 Blows" [no pun intended]) is hilarious as a caricature of Godard in particular and French filmmakers in general, and the rooftop interview with (the stunning) Maggie Cheung refers to both Godard's "Breathless" and, indirectly, Fellini's "8 1/2." Though it pokes good fun at the pretentiousness of the French New Wave, "Irma Vep" is also a tender elegy to a time in which movies were actually viewed as art, as something that really MATTERED. Add to the humor and intelligence some really witty direction, superstylish cinematography, and a slew of beautiful people, and you got yerself a postmodern masterpiece and just maybe one last, great film of the New Wave.
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- Fast, 4 October 2000 Author: ziggy-24 (sbgr@cybercable.fr) from Paris
This is a fast movie! Shot in 3 weeks with a budget not fit for an ad, Irma Vep has its roots in a silent masterpiece and explodes right in the 21st century. The plot is only a pretext to explore what cinema has become today. It is an excellent ride in the History of this art-form. I loved it. It is subtle and fast.
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- More style than substance, 26 September 2005 Author: Harry T. Yung (harry_tk_yung@yahoo.com) from Hong Kong
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
An odd little piece of cinematic work by Olivier Assayas on a brief episode (fictional) about a Hong Kong actress brought to France by an eccentric director to play the title role in his revival of a silent movie, Irma Vep makes reference to, among other things, Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman in "Batman Returns" (1992), in the context of the body tight latex outfit designed for the heroine.As a movie about making movies, Irma Vep has considerably less to offer than Truffaut's "Day for Night" (1973). However, Maggie Cheung, 8 years before winning best actress in Cannes with "Clean" (2004) and playing herself in this stylish satire, was well received by critics, one of whom described one of her scenes thus: "When Maggie hears that Zoé is attracted to her, she's both charmed and incredulous: a swath of emotions, from confusion to cautious delight, passes across her face with the subtlety and playfulness of ripples on a lake." With only a hint of a plot, Irma Vep looks more like a series or sketches, or even a documentary, sustained by nervous energy. While the satire on the current (1996) state of movie-making in France would mean considerably more to people familiar with the scene, the movie on the while is more style than substance to the general audience.
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- ...In which Olivier Assayas tries out a bunch of different ideas with no cohesion, 23 June 2006 Author: bastard wisher from Hawaii
This is a very solid film, make no mistake, but it tends to play more like a testing ground for various elements of Olivier Assayas' overall style, particularly those which he would later explore more fully in his later masterpiece "Demonlover", than any sort of cohesive narrative statement. It's not very often that a film strikes me as not having enough of a plot, but in the case of this there did seem to be a certain irrelevance to it all. There's nothing really new about the "making a movie" movie, and this doesn't add much to the mix, although i do think it is well done for what it is, and occasionally even approaches a sort of proto-"Lost in Translation", with Paris standing in for Tokyo and Maggie Cheung's Asian "otherness" replacing Bill Murray's fish-out-of-water Americanness. But the film is never really focused enough to compare in any significant way to that film. "Irma Vep" really only comes alive when Assayas gets away from his nagging tendency towards a certain French talkiness and indulges in the moments of pure visual cinema that make up the other half of his general approach (and which seem to be invested with much more enthusiasm here) , such as the scene scored to Sonic Youth's "Tunic" (another foreshadowing of "Demonlover"). Certainly he does have a way with capturing pretty little images of neon lights reflecting through car windows and things like that, enough that I can acknowledge he is definitely a talented filmmaker, but within this film he never quite finds the correct way to integrate his little artistic flourishes into the whole, and overall the film feels more like a collection of separate ideas than a cohesive statement of any kind.
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Possibly the best French art film ever!, 9 November 2001 Author: Eegah Guy (eegah@hotmail.com) from Minneapolis, MN
This film ignores most of the things that make French art films such a chore to sit through and keeps a kinetic energy that continues from beginning to end through the use of handheld camerawork, overlapping dialogue, excellent music selections (Sonic Youth!) and an ending that lapses into total experimental film techniques. The (ad-libbed?) scripting and acting are totally believable in relating the chaos and turmoil involved in putting together a feature film as well as flawlessly imitating the look and feel of the "you-are-there" documentary. Especially interesting for Honk Kong film freaks is the presence of Maggie Cheung acting as herself and remarking on working with Jackie Chan but not John Woo (too masculine!), while her interviewer remarks that French cinema is boring and made only for intellectuals. This is a great film about cinema and particularly how French cinema has become stale and out-of-touch with its own audience.
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :- Surprisingly entertaining, 22 February 2008 Author: sansay from San Diego, USA
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.
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- A New Syntax Of Film-Making, 10 September 2000 Author: CHI-14 (chil_man@email.com) from Hong Kong
It is the first time I see this 1996 feature of Maggie Cheung and Oliver Assayas, the director and her husband. Some negative comments I had read in the past several years. But to me, this movie is refreshing, and in fact, excellent. Difficult to classify it, but classification seems not that important, and what really matters should be the overall effect. Assayas has said the world kept changing, and thus inventing new syntax to describe the circumstance around us was necessary. It also seems to be the best description of the style of this movie. Conveys so much information but I can't see a strong storyline. Also very natural is the manner used to convey those information. Nothing very exciting, but to me, it is very watchable. Praise-worthy is also the music. A must see !
Irma Vep or Eerma Wep? Who cares in this friendly, eccentric movie about making a movie?, 28 January 2009 Author: Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas
What the world needs is a movie about producing a book. You know, the creative angst of the author as he tries to remember when to use "which" and when to use "that," the nasty arguments over choosing a typeface, the dust jacket tantrums about artistic integrity if both boobs are shown or just one, the cattiness of the editors and, perhaps most insightful, whether the proofreading will continue to be the night guard's responsibility during his dinner break or whether the delivery boy from the next door deli should be given a crack at it. Until that movie is made, Irma Vep will have to do. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed but there are absolutely no spoilers here or in the movie. Irma Vep is a movie about making a movie and it's stuffed with angst, pettiness, tantrums, ego and confusion. Taken on one of its own terms -- is it any good just as a movie -- the answer in my opinion is a loud "yes." Forget all the inside cineaste stuff (it is French, after all) and you may find that Irma Vep is funny, not just clever. It's good-natured with a friendly performance by Hong Kong kung fu heroine Maggie Cheung playing herself. Most of all, it is so eccentric a movie I seldom could stop smiling. Rene Vidal (Jean-Pierre Leaud), an aging New Wave director now well past his sell-by date, is planning a comeback. He'll re-make a long, long and long ago silent movie called Les Vampires, a movie about a gang of criminals who prowl and stalk. One them, in a skin-tight black body suit and black mask, is named Irma Vep. She will be Vidal's inspiration. He has just the star in mind to play Irma...Maggie Cheung. Maggie, who doesn't speak French, shows up in Paris ready to work. Cast and crew snipe and argue in many mini-dramas. Vidal collapses. Cast and crew snipe and argue some more. Maggie, an outsider and quite taken by the black latex outfit she and the costume designer, Zoe (Nathalie Richard) picked up cheap at a Parisian sex shop, whiles away the time one night by creeping about her hotel wearing the suit. Like Irma Vep, Maggie sees things in the hallways and rooms, some worth taking, and then there is the nighttime rain and the high, outside fire escape leading up to the hotel's roof. All does not go well for the movie. Eventually Maggie leaves for New York to take a meeting with Ridley Scott. Not much there, I know, except for director and writer Olivier Assayas' amusing style and Maggie Cheung's bemusement and lithe creeping. There is much pleasure in Assayas' take on movie making and movie people, but the pleasure for me comes from noticing how I came to rather enjoy and like all those behind-the-scenes groupies, workers and jerks. The dish, of course, is amusing. "Directors thrive on hypocrisy," says one. "Yeah," says another, "but sometimes they go overboard." The interview between Maggie and a young, intense film enthusiast is priceless...John Woo versus Jean-Luc Godard. The film enthusiast has strong opinions about both. Maggie doesn't. Maggie Cheung gives a sweet center to this movie, but I liked just as much Nathalie Richard as Zoe, the lean, blonde, tentative, cigarette-smoking, girl-liking costume designer. She's past her prime if you're a teenage boy, but right at her peak if you're an adult of either sex. Film lovers might enjoy one message. "Cinema is not magic. It's a technique and a science. A technique born of science and at the service of a will, the will of the workers to free themselves." Got that? Essayas manages to combine the idea of movies (popular entertainment) and film (a much more deadly serious concept of the movies) in a way that is eccentric and engaging. Film insiders and hopeful film insiders just might love this movie. Yet as funny and eccentric as Eerma Wep is, it's still just a movie by a talented director about making a movie. If you like movies and are relaxed about "film," I think you'll enjoy it.
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