Irma Vep

Name: Irma Vep
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: April 30, 1997
Duration: 99 min
Rating: 80
Cast: Alex Descas, Antoine Basler, Arsinée Khanjian, Bernard Nissile, Dominique Faysse

1997

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Ratings

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4.8

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Movie Details & Credits

Haut et Court | Release Date: April 30, 1997 | Not Rated

Starring: Alex Descas, Antoine Basler, Arsinée Khanjian, Bernard Nissile, Dominique Faysse, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Maggie Cheung, Nathalie Boutefeu, Nathalie Richard, Olivier Torres

Summary: A Chinese movie actress, in France to star in a remake of "Les Vampires", finds petty intrigues and clashing egos on the set.

Director: Olivier Assayas

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 99 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Jonathan Rosenbaum

This unexpected masterpiece was assembled so quickly that it has an improvisational feel and a surrealist capacity to access its own unconscious—traits it shares with Feuillade's work. Read full review

Scott Tobias

The film is a true torchbearer of the French New Wave—playful, restless, full of invention, and born of an overwhelming discontent for the status quo. Read full review

Jay Carr

Olivier Assayas's Irma Vep is a spicy, propulsive, invigorating paradox - a French film of great gusto about the exhaustion of French film culture. Written in 10 days and shot in four weeks with a very busy Super 16mm camera, it looks and plays as breathlessly as its on-the-fly circumstances. [27 July 1997, p.C8]

Staff (Not Credited)

A delightfully nonchalant movie, complete with some nice satirical barbs aimed at contemporary French film culture, and fine performances throughout. Read full review

Marc Savlov

Bizarre and beautiful, this French take on the madness inherent in independent filmmaking rivals Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion as the most realistic depiction of the myriad trials and tribulations that accompany the creation of a new film. Read full review

Edward Guthmann

Irma Vep blurs the line between reality and fantasy, toys with notions of identity and offers a playfully jaundiced look at the petty jealousies and acts of sabotage that infect film crews in the heat of production. Read full review

David Baron

But its behind-the-scenes satire of the peccadilloes of "serious" French filmmaking eventually turns downright pedantic, while the backstage intrigue (much of it hinging on a female staffer's romantic designs on Maggie) is surprisingly tame. [25 July 1997, p.L31]

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

Jun 6, 2021

A movie within a movie that tries to make fun of the industry itself.
I'd give it a bit more credit if it weren't imbued with its own pretentiousness, because it's part of the same after all.
"He makes old cinema, for intellectuals", says one character, and even with the irony itself,A movie within a movie that tries to make fun of the industry itself.
I'd give it a bit more credit if it weren't imbued with its own pretentiousness, because it's part of the same after all.

"He makes old cinema, for intellectuals", says one character, and even with the irony itself, automatically provoked, Irma Vep is in fact a film for a certain niche.
A niche that must not only understand what the movie is trying to say, but also naturally accept that it's just a joke.

Maggie Cheung is flawless though.… Expand

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