Irma Vep

Rating:
Summary: Charming French cinema...& lovely Maggie Cheung
Review: I will state that I have never been a fan of self-reflective French films. Some French films are so self-aggrandizing. However, I did find "Irma Vep" to be a charming piece of work. I'll try not to be biased since I am a huge fan of Maggie Cheung. Maggie gives what else?...another delightful performance. Fans of her HK films will probably enjoy seeing Maggie in the flesh acting like a normal person. She looks radiant with very little makeup and dressed down in jeans. It is a good look behind the scenes and the squabbling on a movie set. I was unsure if this was supposed to be a satire since French cinema is not my forte.


Rating:
Summary: Great Misunderstood Film
Review: Irma Vep elicits two reactions from different groups of people: nay sayers who view it as yet another boring French film and people who focus on the film-about-a-film. I think it is seriously misleading to view the film in either of these lights. Irma Vep should be viewed as a series of short films, tied together by the "plot" of the film. Each mini-plot is fascinating and together make the film wonderful.

If you don't know, Irma Vep is a movie about a Hong Kong action star (Maggie cheung) who arrives in Paris to do a remake of a 1915 French film about the French underworld. The director is losing his emotional stability and eventually the crew unravels. A lot has been said about the "film within the film" aspect of the movie, so I won't say more. What I think is fascinating is how the director tells a number of stories within this strange plot:

- The crash and burn of a film crew
- Zoe, the costume designer who is attracted to Maggie and she is rejected
- Maggie's desire to indulge in her criminal fantasies
- the director's strangely engaging mini-film

Since all this takes place in the middle of chaos, it can be hard to appreciate at first. There is really no beginning or end of the film. It is abrupt, which I think must reflect the experience of someone who arrives in the middle of turmoil. But each mini-plot is lovingly filmed and well acted. It also helps a great deal that Maggie Cheung is an attractive actress who can really carry well while wearing a latex suit the director insists she wear. The rest of the cast puts in a great performance as well, which allows you to engage with the other characters. On top of that, the film has lots of great shots - the weird footage at the end, Maggie sneaking through the hotel, the obligatory French dinner party, an incisive slam on the French film indusrty, etc..

Definitely worth it for people who can tolerate unusual plot structures and who enjoy beauty in unusual places. Check it out.

Rating:
Summary: A great movie for the latex rubber enthusiast
Review: Irma Vep is a bizarre story about a young Chinese actress who plays the title character in a remake of the 1915 silent French film Les Vampires. It later becomes obvious that Irma (starring Maggie Cheung) accepted the role because of her innermost desires and fetishes. In fact, most of the female roles are portrayed as either bi-sexual or lesbian. Although there is only brief nudity and no sex in this film, it still has a very erotic theme The movie has absolutely no decent ending; typical of French films, but I still recommend this for those with a flair for this fetish.

Rating:
Summary: Creativity and Emotion
Review: IRMA VEP is about the filmaking process, yes; it's also about the mysterious ways of people, how we choose to see the world, and want we want but, perhaps, cannot have. Maggie Chung is lovely portraying herself as the "object" of creative and personal affection. The director of a proposed remake of a silent classic sees her as the embodiment of his artistic vision. The character of Zoe, the person in charge of wardrobe and costumes, sees her as a possible lover. What's interesting about the film is that no matter what expectation these characters have, there's the question of whether they truly connect to reality? In the end however, does that really matter? The ways of the heart, and art, are mysterious indeed; sometimes benevolent, but frequently, as seen in the aspersions cast rather carelessly by many on the film crew, self-serving. Having said this, Chung is nothing less than charming. She radiates directness, and perhaps as a dream sequence suggests, a little mischieviousness. There's humor to be found here, but also the heartbreak of missed connections; of knowing or not knowing what one thinks or feels. And yet, the creative and emotional impulse seeks expression. If you choose to view this film, you'll be rewarded with a film of some insight into the human condition, charm, and yes, a bit of melancholy.

Rating:
Summary: Tragic beauty wrapped in a historical gaze
Review: Irma Vep is definitively on one my DIV (Desert Island Videos). Framed by Les Vampires, a French silent film from 1916, the film is alternately dull and titillating until the end. Until the end. This film should be part of every film lover's lovelife.

Rating:
Summary: Pseudo-criticism of the moviemaking world
Review: It seems that director Assayas's lack of skills for storytelling made him try to disguise Irma Vep with some elements of interest (the remake of "Les Vampires"; casting Maggie Cheung playing herself; trying to show the making of a movie, etc..) just to hide he had nothing to say with this film. There is no progression or development of characters or ideas on this screenplay, contributing only to increase the lose of interest as the film goes by. Everything that is said by different characters criticizing American film industry and French intelectual movies just sounds superficial when the movie you are watching cannot stand on itself because of its own technical and artistical mediocrity.

Rating:
Summary: Notions in different directions...
Review: Maggie Cheung, as herself, comes to Paris to partake in a remake of Louis Feuillade's Les Vampires as Irma Vep. However, when Maggie arrives three days late to the set she finds a disorganized film company trying to hold together a group of actors, a crew, and filmmakers who all have different agendas. Nevertheless, Maggie tries her hardest to fit in, even though she does not speak any French, and she tries to get a good grip of the character that she intends to cast. Meanwhile, the director is having problems keeping himself emotionally together and the film's future becomes jeopardized. Irma Vep is an interesting film that portraits thoughts that are not followed through with or that cannot be followed through with unless they are organized.

Rating:
Summary: Pullleeezzzz
Review: Mediocre entertainment, major navel-gazing , poor DVD package. The only part of this movie that grabbed my attention is when a Gen X French movie critic, hip and au courant, interviews Maggie Cheug in-situ and tells her all about the "revolting" habit of the French government to allow and promote financially the productions of boring intellectual movies nobody is interested in paying to see, Arnold Schwartznegger flicks being the favorite diet of this hip pseudo-critic.....Forgive me: this must be the ultimate comical note in the whole movie Irma Vep: for is not French Governement Money that I see behind the production of this painfully unfunny movie about-nothing-and-even-less? Surely, nobody with profit in mind could have contributed to the making of such a dull piece of cinematographic story telling...Only 2 good points in the movie, as far as I am concerned: Maggie Cheung, and... it is only 90 mn long.

Rating:
Summary: Hmm...
Review: Seeing this movie has left me flabbergasted. I guess it's one of those either-you-love-it-or-hate-it movies. But let me be objective about this. It comes across as a masochistic satire on contemporary filmmaking, ridiculing on all points the folly of churning out meaningless movies filled with gore, violence, and Schwarzenegger. The storyline is simple: Director wants to shoot movie, crew is unstable, everything falls apart... and voila... the 5-minute ending redeems the 2-hour jargon that just took place before your eyes. But you can't beat having Maggie Cheung running around in that latex suit. Overall acting was precise, intense, and really, you can't ask for more. There is lot of handheld camera movement, so make sure to take your motion sickness pills. I sat watching this movie flicker in front of me. One hour later, I was still waiting for something good to happen. I am somewhat disappointed, I guess. I feel that a lot of time has been wasted on cinebabble. The ending's good, though. All in all, I'd rather have watched 20 minutes worth of the film than in its entirety.

Rating:
Summary: Quelque chose de different
Review: The French do self-reflexive cinema better than we do. This tale of a has-been director attempting a comeback with a re-make of a silent French serial (and using a non-French speaking real-life Maggie Cheung in the title role) is the ultimate exercise in cinematic intertextuality. But it's also a lot ofe fun and not--as one of the film's own characters grouses about the state of French cinema--just intellectual navel gazing. Not for everyone, of course, but for lovers of cinematic irony, it's hard to think of a more delightful feelm.