Modern French cinema is far removed from the time when Louis Feuillade made his silent serial "Les Vampires". In 1915, the war had stifled the French film industry, as elsewhere, and thus the international dominance of Hollywood since. "Irma Vep", a film about filmmaking with all the self-reflexive jesting, owes more to the New Wave of several decades later.
In it, a director plans to remake the nearly seven-hour long silent serial "Les Vampires", and he plans to remake it as a silent film, to boot. Casting a Hong Kong action star in the lead was the most rational decision he made. Here in lies the absurd humor of "Irma Vep". It's a clever idea, although a recycled one. I especially like the use of a silent serial, as I've seen many silent films (although I don't care for "Les Vampires" or serials in general). Anyhow, there are some good pokes at the modern French film industry; quibbles over the uncomfortable coexistence between commercial, popular movies (which would include "Les Vampires") and the artsy, government-funded ones (which would probably include "Irma Vep"); and French filmmaker stereotypes are exploited.
The comicality is hit or miss, but that's not what I consider the film's major problem. I think the subplots (the lesbianism, personal affairs and such) detract from it. "Irma Vep" lacks focus, just as with the film within the film. The various story-lines and the film's style stray far from the path, but the problem is there doesn't seem to have been much of a path to begin with and, in the end, we get images from a completely unfocused mind.
In it, a director plans to remake the nearly seven-hour long silent serial "Les Vampires", and he plans to remake it as a silent film, to boot. Casting a Hong Kong action star in the lead was the most rational decision he made. Here in lies the absurd humor of "Irma Vep". It's a clever idea, although a recycled one. I especially like the use of a silent serial, as I've seen many silent films (although I don't care for "Les Vampires" or serials in general). Anyhow, there are some good pokes at the modern French film industry; quibbles over the uncomfortable coexistence between commercial, popular movies (which would include "Les Vampires") and the artsy, government-funded ones (which would probably include "Irma Vep"); and French filmmaker stereotypes are exploited.
The comicality is hit or miss, but that's not what I consider the film's major problem. I think the subplots (the lesbianism, personal affairs and such) detract from it. "Irma Vep" lacks focus, just as with the film within the film. The various story-lines and the film's style stray far from the path, but the problem is there doesn't seem to have been much of a path to begin with and, in the end, we get images from a completely unfocused mind.