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| IRMA VEP | France |
 Shot in all of
four weeks, this script was written by director Olivier
Assayas especially for actress Maggie Cheung, a popular
filmstar for action films in Hong Kong. Described by the
director as a film acrobat, she combines sensuality and
physical strength to make up her heroines.Playing herself, Maggie is contracted by French filmmaker René Vidal to play Irma Vep, a famous criminal in Paris in a remake of the classic silent movie Vampires, from 1915, by Louis Feuillade. It is a film within a film that results in a sincere and creative tribute to the history of cinema. Maggie arrives on set for the shooting, tries on her sensual black latex clothes, and meets Zoe, fashion designer for the film. The atmosphere on location is tense: Zoe argues with Maïtê, production assistant, and the director is obssessed as to changing Maggie into Irma Vep. Later, Zoe invites Maggie to go to her friend Mireille's apartment and confides to her that she is attracted to the star. Conditions become unbearable when Mireille tells Maggie of Zoe's passion. At the same time, Vidal analyzes shooting routines in despair, and decides to go away. On his return to the hotel, Maggie has a telephone call from the director. She goes to his house, and there she finds the police. He has attacked his wife and is under sedation. Confusion sets in, once and for all, on the set: Zoe again argues with Maïte and with Laure, one of the actresses in the film that shows that another director has been called to replace Vidal. Maggie is dismissed from the production, but her mysterious and sensual Irma Vep transcends the difficulties in shooting and becomes light and beauty when the new director begins to view the sequences already filmed by Vidal. |
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