HALFWAY through reviewing Irma Vep, one thing is painfully clear: maybe writer-director Olivier Assayas should just pick up the phone and call his ex-wife. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I watched the original Irma Vep (1996) many years ago, and I remember it being a quirky, somewhat confusing film that featured Cheung, one of my favourite Hong Kong stars – essentially playing herself – as an actress hired for an avant-garde French remake of a 1915 silent film. Cheung and the film’s (real-life) director Assayas would later go on to marry, before divorcing after three years.
Now, Assayas is revisiting his cult classic film, in a miniseries remake. This time, it stars Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander as Mira, a Hollywood starlet best known for her roles in superhero movies, and who takes on this indie French film as a way to challenge herself and prove her skills as a ‘real actress’.
The (in-movie) director is René Vidal (played by Vincent Macaigne), a neurotic auteur who is battling not just studio execs who are doubtful of his capabilities, but also his own growing mental health issues, which worsen as the film production drags.
The modern miniseries format gives Assayas more time to flesh out the basic story, and allows him to focus on the various supporting characters. This includes the egomaniacal leading man Edmond (Vincent Lacoste), the crack addict German co-star Gottfried (Lars Eidinger) and the various (stressed out) crew members who must help keep the film running.
We also get to see snippets of the ‘new’ production, a shot-for-shot remake of the original silent film. In contrast to the (mostly) French dialogue spoken by the French actors and crew, the remake is being shot in English, and the clunky lines read out in thick French accents lends a surreal air to the whole affair.
As the series progresses, it becomes clear that Mira is having her own issues. These range from dealing with a heartbreak involving a former lover (who dumped her to marry the director of Mira’s last film), to rekindling a romance with an ex-flame who is also in Paris shooting another film, to finding herself increasingly becoming drawn in to the mystique and the freedom she experiences as her character Irma, who mostly slinks around the set dressed in a skin tight velvet catsuit.
However, the most intriguing character to me is the director René, and it becomes clear that he is a stand-in for the series’ actual director Assayas in more ways than one. For one, it’s revealed that this new production is René’s second crack at remaking his previous version of Irma Vep, which starred a Chinese actress whom René eventually married.
This all culminates in one pivotal scene, in which René holds a conversation with the manifestation of his ex-wife. It truly does make you feel as though Assayas might have some unresolved issues with Cheung, and that this entire thing is just his way of sending a message to her.
Why he chose to do it through an eight episode miniseries instead of a phone call or email is beyond me.
However, this doesn’t mean Irma Vep the miniseries is an irredeemable vanity project. While the original film was a Cheung-centric vehicle, the miniseries is an ensemble effort, and everyone is pulling their weight.
Especially intriguing were all the meta references to the original film, and the movie industry in general. Irma Vep might be a leap in logic for some new viewers, but anyone who has even a passing knowledge of the original film will find the series entertaining. It may not be for everyone, but there is certainly something worth watching here.
Irma Vep is currently airing every Tuesday on HBO GO and at 10pm on HBO (Astro Ch 411).
