Irma Vep
Irma Vep is a 1996 French comedy-drama film written and directed by Olivier Assayas. Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung plays a fictionalised version of herself, as disasters result when an unstable French film director (played by Jean-Pierre Léaud) attempts to remake Louis Feuillade's classic silent film serial Les Vampires (1915–16). (Irma Vep is an anagram for the word "vampire".) Taking place largely through the eyes of a foreigner (Cheung), it is also a meditation on the state of the French film industry.
Plot
The plot mirrors the disorientation felt by director René Vidal during a troubled production of a film-within-a-film. Maggie Cheung has been cast to play the film's heroine, Irma Vep, a burglar and a spy, who dresses in a tight, black, latex rubber catsuit. Irma Vep, it is explained, is an anagram for vampire, but she is not a literal vampire. Rather, she is the inspiration for a criminal gang named The Vampires, as in Feuillade's original serial.
Cast
- Alex Descas
- Antoine Basler
- Arsinée Khanjian
- Bernard Nissille
- Bulle Ogier
- Dominique Faysse
- Estelle Larrivaz
- Guy-Patrick Sainderichin
- Jacques Fieschi
- Jean-Pierre Léaud
- Lou Castel
- Maggie Cheung
- Maurice Najman
- Nathalie Boutefeu
- Nathalie Richard
- Olivier Torres
- Philippe Landoulsi
- Smaïl Mekki
- Willy Martin
- Yann Richard
More details
| author | Olivier Assayas |
|---|---|
| director | Olivier Assayas |
| editor | Luc Barnier |
| genre | comedy-drama |
| keywords | anagram cast and crew catsuit costume designer criminal gang daily disorientation embarrass end even feuillade's original serial film director french culture hero hotel room hotel suite latex les vampires morning possess rave ridley scott story within a story strand troubled production want |
| musicBy | Philippe Richard |
| producer | Georges Benayoun |
| productionCompany | Dacia Films |
| publisher | Haut Et Court |
| theme | filmmaking silent vampire |