Hollywood actress Mira (incredible Alicia Vikander) is trying to bring her career to the desired balance – between major studio projects (movie comics, of course), she agrees to star in auteur films. This is how the Irma Vep project comes about – a kind of remake of the classic silent series The Vampires of 1915, not about real ghouls, but about an equally dangerous gang of criminals who keep half of Paris at bay. The face of this insidious clan was Irma Vep (anagram of the word “vampire”) – a thief-seductress in a black suit, who fought not with a weapon in place, but with the appearance and grace of a cat ( her black dress would later form the basis of the image of Catwoman).
Immersed in the shooting process, Mira loses herself more and more in a new role and gradually reunites with her heroine. In parallel, he is also interested in his personal life – his ex-girlfriend Lori (beautiful Adria Arjona, who did not have a chance to act in the last Morbius) occasionally appears before his eyes and seduces the ambiguous possibility of a reunion. falling apart when everyone around him goes silently insane, including a director prone to depression.
Withdrawn from the TV series “Irma Vep” (2022)
little lamb
If cinema is a dream, then the 2022 version of Irma Vep is a dream in the pure Nolan canon—a dream-within-a-dream realized within another dream. A remake of a movie that has become a remake of another show, the show itself is a maze that’s easy to get lost in. And in the first episode, the viewer will repeatedly suspect that Assayas did not always understand in which direction the project he started was heading.
The director made his first “Irma Vep” in the style of “the cinema of faith”, bringing it as close to real life as possible and thus increasing the effect of the audience’s presence. In the new millennium, the film format conceived by Dziga Vertov is unlikely: a spoiled viewer is maximally detached from the surrounding reality if he wants to dream on the screen. And the Assayas mini-series still copes with this task.
Withdrawn from the TV series “Irma Vep” (2022)
little lamb
The new “Irma Vep” is a combination of various metals and dramatic clashes. Here is an actress drowning in complex material and reflections on the film process (from the ’90s it was almost an essential element of the story) and how difficult it is to make a good project in our time, and a philosophical analogy about the relativity of being. An ancient Taoist parable about Emperor Zhuang Zhou is told about the ruler’s dream in which he sees himself as a butterfly and cannot understand: is it an emperor dreaming of a butterfly or a thinking butterfly? is he an emperor?
Similar questions are asked by Irma Vep – it’s not that complicated in design, yet it’s a multi-layered story about creation and the creator. Director Rene Vidal (Vincent Macken is believable in his vulnerability) is on potent antidepressants and, by all laws of the genre, is about to go free and send all those shots to hell. It’s ironic that when she meets Mira in person, she always calls herself an unhappy person who isn’t interested in cinema – a fun presentation for someone who needs to make this movie. Mira begins to bitterly reunite with her heroine, like the heroine of Gena Rowlands in The Cassavetes Premiere. And the attention of colleagues, preoccupied with their earthly passions, is constantly occupied with personal, more pressing problems.
It is not surprising that the ship built with such a crew did not go far, or even that something good sank in the middle of the road. And isn’t it possible not to wonder if a similar fate awaits the series itself? Unable to put down the story about Irma Vep even after a quarter of a century, Assayas enjoys the approximately 8 hours of running time provided to him and is in no rush: The rhythm of the series is smooth and viscous and flowing. The picture is like that mirage.
Withdrawn from the TV series “Irma Vep” (2022)
little lamb
But as we know from ancient myths, excessive admiration for one’s creation can harm the creator (Pygmalion doesn’t let you lie), especially when working with the old form when he really has nothing new to say. But what definitely helps Assayas in the first episode is a sense of taste and ability to work with a little form: “Irma Vep” is especially captivating in the episodes where the characters just talk to each other and in all the dynamics of the scene. They arise from the depths.
At the end of the original Irma Vep, the distraught director secretly re-edited his disbanded film, and a miracle was born. Assayas, who entered the same river twice, seems to have a similar purpose – to fix what went wrong on the first try. And even if a miracle did not happen this time, the attempt to take revenge in a fight with himself was at least worth it.
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.