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In 1996, filmmaker Olivier Assayas made the feature film Irma Vepiabout an actress (Maggie Cheung) chosen for a remake of the French classic The vampires (1915). Cheung played a sort of fictionalized version of himself at the time. The eight-part Irma Vepi – which recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival – is another remake of this film. Directed again by Assayas. A remake of a remake that revolves around a remake of a movie. This time actress Alicia Vikander (grave robber, 2018) as the main character. Her character – an American actress – is called Mira. It’s Spanish for “watch” and that shouldn’t be a coincidence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdMxxttO1BI
Irma Vepi is full of false bottoms. Nothing is what it seems. Sometimes while filming the remake, you peek behind the scenes; sometimes you suddenly find yourself in the middle of the action as a spectator. Gradually, Mira – or Vikander, depending on how you see her – seems to merge with her character, an “evil muse”. The vampires revolves around a secret society of vampires, and Irma Vep is the anagram of Vampire. Interestingly, the 1915 film is around 7 hours long, just like the TV series. It’s also important that the film revolves around an overseas actress, and for Vikander it must have been a similar experience.
Irma Vepi was filmed in France, while Vikander usually works in England and the United States. Like her character, would she have felt alone at times? Was there a language barrier? In this sense, the TV series also unquestionably revolves around show business (Assayas is obsessed with it, see also Clouds of Sils Maria, 2014) and how celebrities are sometimes involuntarily in a sort of isolation or bubble. Nonetheless, it’s fascinating to watch how Assayas forges one narrative layer after another, deftly blending everything together. This creates a suffocating and oppressive atmosphere.
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In a television series about an actress who participates in the remake of a cinematic classic because she wants something different. The multi-interpretable Irma Vepi is infinitely interesting.
Irma Vep S01, weekly on HBO Max starting June 7, 2022
