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Powerful

Absolutely the worst movie.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is a movie about making a remake of an actual French silent film called Les Vampires. Maggie Cheung plays, get this, Maggie Cheung. Ms. Cheung has consistently been one of the best actors in film in the last twenty five years. Her versatility is admirable. In this film you get everything involved with the film, the set, the script, the discussions behind the camera, the disappointment after watching the rushes. Its like a reality movie about making a film. It feels like a documentary, which is a quality that is very admirable. Ms. Cheung looks pretty great poured into a black latex outfit for the film. You get everything here. Ms. Cheung speaks English here, and the subtitles on my version of the film are sometimes unintentionally funny (they are so wrong). See this film, it is entertaining and Maggie Cheung is her usual great self. I greatly enjoyed it.

I suppose this film is by its nature polarizing, because it's a movie about film-making that lacks action, or drama, or a strong plot line. Nonetheless, I think it stands as one of the most charming, and disarmingly original, films of the 90s. A somewhat haphazard production company in Paris, about to remake a silent classic, has a mixed reaction to the casting of an actress from the Hong Kong cinema (Maggie Cheung, utterly delightful) as its iconic French heroine. The movie lazily moves through onset and offset scenes that detail the relationships of the movie's cast and crew, with Cheung, playing herself, employed as the innocent abroad. One of the most interesting movies about movies ever made, with the legendary Jean-Pierre Leaud as the mad, virtually incomprehensible director. Magnifique.

We are introduced to `Irma Vep'(1996) as Maggie Cheung, playing herself, arrives on the frantic set of the film within a film remake of Louis Feuillade's `Les Vampires'. Maggie struggles to overcome a severe language barrier as she's introduced to the crew. Olivier Assayas exhibits beautiful camera work and an enticing introspective view into film making while commenting on contemporary French cinema. The director of the film within the film, René Vidal, recruits Maggie Cheung as the leading lady because he feels no French woman could do justice to the remake of the highly regarded silent film `Les Vampires'. This leads to a culture clash as a Hong Kong star is asked to portray one of the more dominant French female roles of the past. It quickly becomes apparent that René is obsessed with Maggie as they view some of her previous films together. René goes on and on about her beauty and grace in one of her Hong Kong fighter flicks and ignores Maggie when she tries to explain that it wasn't even her in the scenes he's praising. Of course Maggie must be properly outfitted for her role as the new vampiress. This is where she encounters the costume designer Zoé, Nathalie Richard. Like René, Zoé quickly becomes taken in by Maggie and develops a crush on her as well. At the fitting we see Maggie's role of the female present for the males pleasure. Though Maggie makes it clear she is terribly uncomfortable in the latex suit Zoé, René's ambassador, insists that it was exactly what René wanted, which of course all that matters. Maggie is the ultimate victim of the male eye as she is lonely, isolated in a foreign city and therefore forced to fulfill all the wishes of the male director. While throughout most of `Irma Vep' Maggie is objectified by stereotypes of the female as quiet, attractive and most importantly, obedient there is one scene where Maggie is allowed to break free from this role. In the only sequence Maggie is alone we enter the hotel room via fast paced camera movement, accompanied by loud equally quick moving music. Maggie fitted in her costume sneaks around the hotel stealing jewelry from an unsuspecting hotel guest. This scene is a powerful addition to the film as it allows the female to be the dominant party calling the shots independently of the male gaze.After this scene in which we're exposed to an alternate side of Maggie, René suffers a nervous break down and the fate of the film, as well as its leading lady's job is uncertain. It seems ironic how after this scene the course of the film within the film grows doubtful. Assayas has created a brilliant film that exposes the inner workings and troubles of the hidden cinematic apparatus and even allows for the development of a break through leading lady. Unfortunately Olivier Assayas doesn't allow for the complete breaking of stereotypes that females fall victim to and maintains the past tradition of keeping even the heroine subject to male dominancy in the cinematic gaze.

This movie is definitely a must see for every film-lover. Maggie gives her best performance ever in a movie that feels so close to reality you often get the impression you're watching a documentary. Enormously inspired by French cinema style, technique (camera) and references, it manages to observe from a distance French cinema while being a typical French movie. Without any doubt one of the best French movie ever made. 10/10.