Irma Vep (1996)
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Synopsis: Hong Kong diva Cheung stars as herself, having been cast on a director's whim as the slinky, cat-burgling heroine of a remake of the vintage French serial "Les Vampires." Once in Paris, Cheung encounters countless culture clashes, as well as set-related mishaps that echo Truffaut's... Hong Kong diva Cheung stars as herself, having been cast on a director's whim as the slinky, cat-burgling heroine of a remake of the vintage French serial "Les Vampires." Once in Paris, Cheung encounters countless culture clashes, as well as set-related mishaps that echo Truffaut's charming "Day for Night." [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Antoine Basler, Alex Descas
DVD Info
Release:
Mar 31, 1998
DVD Features:
- Region 1 Encoding
- Special Features: Includes filmographies and theatrical trailer.
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
A wonderful tribute to filmmaking that could only be made in France, it has delightful performances and a low-budget style -- like the film it parodies -- which work beautifully.
Irma Vep's director, Olivier Assayas, evinces a love of the process that's nearly as palpable as Truffaut's.
A delightfully nonchalant movie, complete with some nice satirical barbs aimed at contemporary French film culture, and fine performances throughout.
Amusing satire on French cinema and the insanity that is filmmaking.
We just love to make movies about movies to deconstruct them, to see what's behind them.
Cheung, slinking around the corridors of her hotel in her sheath of shiny black latex to the dissonant chords of Sonic Youth, is an instant icon of everything cool.
One of the few movies about making movies that captures the kinetic madness of the process. Maggie Cheung, playing herself, floats like a bemused Buddha through the maelstrom, offering a welcome sense of grace and normalcy.
A sometimes scathing, sometimes goodnatured satire of the French film industry.
[It] seems to function as a cinematic state of affairs, examining the functions and motivations behind the movies we see.

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