Irma Vep (1996)

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

Writer:

Olivier Assayas

Stars:

Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maggie Cheung	...	Maggie Cheung
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

Storyline

French filmmaker René Vidal was once a renowned director, but most see his career on a quick downward slide based on his last several films. In Paris, he is just starting to film his latest movie, a remake of Les vampires (1915), and has hired Hong Kong based Chinese actress Maggie Cheung as the title lead, "Irma Vep" (an anagram for "vampire"), despite she knowing no French and she not being an obvious choice to most. Maggie has never worked with Vidal before and knows little about his movies, but many of his primarily French crew are part of his regular stable. As such, Maggie may become isolated among the cast and crew, unless there are those who bring her into their English conversations, they who may have somewhat ulterior motives in doing so. There are also factions within the cast and crew, who, based on their history, have a poisoned sense of what is going on. With Vidal, he is dealing with some personal issues while he tries to regain his film making form. He may transfer his...

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Plot Keywords:

lesbianism | watching a video | artistic creation | vampire | actress | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

30 April 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Irma Vep

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,852, 4 May 1997

Gross USA:

$282,310

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$292,040

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dacia Films, Canal+

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White (movie extracts) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title is the anagram of "vampire".

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Goofs

After René says, "respect the silence" to Maggie, he speaks to a woman and takes a drink from a big plastic Coke bottle. He screws the cap on, then hands her the bottle. She turns around, and the cap is missing.

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Connections

References Batman Returns (1992)

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Soundtracks

La era está pariendo un corazón
(uncredited)
Written by Silvio Rodríguez
Performed by Silvio Rodríguez

User Reviews

Painful

This truly is a film for film elites. I really enjoy films about human relationships and films about social injustice. I don't enjoy uber-intellectual movies that discuss film-making in a way that can be understood by only a limited number of folks who are keyed into interpretions of art house films. This is not a film for a wide audience, though at best it makes the uninitiated curious. Overall, films made for a select few should be available to the select few only. The rest of us who stumble on it at our local video store sit for a painful 96 minutes waiting for the plot and story to congeal enough for us to understand what the heck it's all about. We come out empty-handed in the end. It is a waste and it isn't. I know what people are bitching about with regards to intellectual French films, but then again, I'm not sure if I really care.