Talk:Irma Vep

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Film: French

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Review of Irma Vep[edit]

Irma Vep is a film about filmmaking, an insightful and disturbing film which delivers some beautiful voyeuristic glimpses of vampirism, realist cinema, gritty black-and-white cine-retro and avant-garde French chic.

The Internet Movie Database says: "Rene Vidal, a director in decline, decides to remake Louis Feuillade's silent serial Les Vampires" but this summary fails to mention the real star of the film - Hong Kong kung-fu actress Maggie Cheung, playing herself. She is perfect as the exotic object, the ephemeral other, the object of desire who finds herself at the centre of the film's obsessive and sexually driven visual vortex.

In the privacy of her hotel room, Maggie Cheung zips herself into a full-body black latex catsuit, which is her vampire costume in Vidal's film. Maybe she is just getting into character, or maybe she shares something of the director's 'very male' fascination with nocturnal life... predatory sexuality... visual fixation... the bound female form... anyway, the film really comes to life as she creeps through the hotel, her haunting feline eyes piercing through the spooky-sexy costume... and then she acts out her own little vampire fantasy, all alone, on the roof, in the rain. This is an unforgettable moment in arthouse cinema.

The film really does justice to its themes, with the male characters degenerating from visionaries into voyeurs, and the female characters showing real depth in their willingness to accomodate the male gaze without losing their savvy post-fem powers. If you are a predictable guy like me, you will love the French-Asian grrrl power, which gives the film a pulse.

The theme of visual obsession is presented very well: the director is shouting, the cameras are rolling, and Maggie Cheung, in her catsuit, is ready to suck blood. In these moments she is bound but free, powerless but in control, objectified but liberated. I suppose this makes the film contentious and provocative, but I thought the message was very clear.

Without spoiling the end of the film: The last five minutes of Irma Vep are totally unique. You will never see another film which ends like this one. I can only describe it as a profoundly futile gesture, an act of great passion and impotence, and a brilliant moment in Lettrist art. It is Rene Vidal's last stand, a terrible but beautiful moment caught on celluloid: the work of a madman? a savant? a genius? - you decide - but I am sure you will agree, it does a lot more than just scratch the surface of modern film art. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.209.130.149 (talk) 00:47, 10 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

notorious?[edit]

Since when is Assayas notorious? For what? His page contains nothing that I'd consider him "notorious" for, except maybe directing really good films. Maybe it should be changed to "respected"? --Andymussell 02:56, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject class rating[edit]

This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 03:44, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Movie print re-released; posted to Usenet May 3rd 2008[edit]

This movie was unavailable from the usual legitimate rental portals (Netflix, etc.) for an extended period of time, at least five years 2002-2007. Fresh commercial copies were apparently made for the retail market some time in April 2008.

On March 3rd, an unknown party posted the DVD to the Usenet newsgroup "alt.binaries.dvd.movies". From there the movie will probably migrate to the P2P groups and experience some resurgence in popularity.

There are two popular tracks to this film -- the life/career of the hugely popular Maggie Cheung, and the life/career of director (and husband) Olivier Assayas. But many people might wander across this movie as an intelligent alternative to "exploitation" media. Or they might be tracking the musical career of the band Luna, aka Stereolab. And although not attributed in the closing credits, much of the musical "bridge work" in the movie sounds suspiciously like Penguin Cafe Orchestra. 96.234.73.179 (talk) 17:49, 8 May 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.234.73.179 (talk) 15:46, 4 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]