Irma Vep & Les Vampires Double Bill
NR Directed by Olivier Assayas. Starring Nathalie Richard, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Maggie Cheung.
REVIEWED By Marjorie Baumgarten, Tue., May 14, 2002
Frenchman Louis Feuillade's popular silent movie serial of 1915, Les Vampires, inspires and informs countryman Olivier Assayas' 1996 movie Irma Vep, which stars the ever-spectacular Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung in her first international role. In a lovely bit of double-billing, an enlightening episode of Feuillade's epic 10-part serial about master criminals will be shown before the screening of Irma Vep. Cheung stars in Assayas' film as a reincarnation of Les Vampires' Irma Vep (an anagram of "vampire"). When a haunted film director (the perfectly cast Léaud) and his crew begin to bicker, leading lady Cheung is cast adrift with no one to lean on but the lesbian wardrobe mistress and the titillation of a furtive jewel raid. Irma Vep is a hynotic blend of suspense, sexual tension, and satiric film criticism.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.
Josh Kupecki, May 24, 2019
Irma Vep & Les Vampires Double Bill, Olivier Assayas, Nathalie Richard, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Maggie Cheung
