Irma Vep (2022) User Reviews

For critics, cinephiles, and fans of French film history

[nickryder9 · 6/10 · 28 June 2022]

I've seen both the original 1916 Les Vampires and the 1996 Irma Vep, so I "get" what the director is trying to do with this series. I'm two episodes in and it seems this is written exclusively for critics, cinephiles, and fans of French film history. 7/10 is generous, but my memory of the original 1916 series keeps me interested.

The original series is "wacky" and very hard to describe. It certainly had energy. Cinema was still in its infancy, so they could just make it up as they went along and dream up ridiculous situations. You'll notice the actors in the HBO series keep lamenting that no one would say or do these things in 2022.

Musidora wasn't classically beautiful but had a strange, magnetic sex appeal. Maggie Cheung in the 1996 version was brilliant, odd casting and incredibly sexy. Her befuddlement added to the chaos. Alicia Vikander is not quite inspired casting. She's done a good job on her American accent, but her character is bland, listless, and gives off little sexual energy. Musidora was voluptuous; Vikander is a twig. Perhaps more inspired casting could have better captured the essence of Irma Vep.

I don't think the world was waiting for another version of Irma Vep. I'll watch to the end, but I can't recommend this to the casual viewer.

UPDATE: I have now finished the series and downgraded my score to 6/10. In 8 hours of tedium there were only 2 interesting characters; Rene, played tenderly by Vincent Macaigne, and Gottfried, channeling Keith Richards, played with reckless abandon by Lars Eidinger. Both deserve future Emmy nominations. Oddly, Irma Vep/Mira is the most poorly written character in the series. Mira really has nothing interesting to say or do, and Vikander infuses her with zero charisma. Fala Chen, in a bit part, lights up the screen as Lily Flower. Perhaps she should have played Mira/Irma Vep?

Decent modern remake of a niche movie

[geister_faust · 8/10 · 15 June 2022]

If you have not seen the original Assayas movie from 1996, try watching it first. You will understand more about the idea behind this series. In short, it's just more of the same 1996 movie, but with enough details shuffled around to make it interesting to watch even if you have seen it before.

This is a remake of a movie that was telling about shooting remake of an old movie from the beginning of the 20th century, that was actually a 7h long series!

It's not for everyone, but you don't need to be neither patient nor intellectual to appreciate it. If you love cinema and love French cinema, you will appreciate this modern take on how chaotic tournage is.

Give it a try

[shivanidiwakar · 7/10 · 17 June 2022]

I started watching it because of Alicia Vikandar but really liked the approach of this show. Making a TV show inside a TV show. It's funny and exciting. The director Renè's storyline is so good and just watching Alicia is just pure pleasure.

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but if you like movies and wonder how they make them then I think it's for you.

Intellectual and patient viewers only

[killercola · 10/10 · 7 June 2022]

I already see the only other review here and it makes absolutely no sense. That's what happens when you give up after twenty minutes. If you're that guy then you don't deserve this show. If you think Marvel movies are "masterpieces" then skip this. It's definitely not for you. This requires intellectual viewing and patience. It's a masterclass of filmmaking, top notch acting, directing, production value and writing. Stick with it and get to the end of the first episode. It spends the entire hour setting the characters and story and does so beautifully. I see lots of awards coming for this effort. There's a reason this has a rare and coveted 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ignore the the low reviews, I can assure you they didn't watch more than half an hour.

Irma Vep (1996) vs. Irma Vep (2022): and the winner is...

[paul-allaer · 6/10 · 15 June 2022]

As Episode 1 of "Irma Vep" (2022 release from France; 8 episodes of about 55 min each) opens, the Alicia Vikander character (we later learn it is an American actress called Mira) arrives in Paris and is whisked away to a photoshoot for her news movie "Doomsday". Mira is actually in Paris to star in an adaptation of the 1916 French silent classic "Les Vampires", and was hired by the French director who envisions her playing "Irma, pure evil in a sexy kinda way"... At this point we are 10 min into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: in 1996 French writer-director Olivier Assayas had a great idea to make a movie-within-a-movie about the movie adaptation of a 1916 French silent movie, and along the way casting Hong Kong movie super star Maggie Cheung who plays herself in the film. Now more than a quarter century later, Assayas decided to reimagine his 1996 movie into an 8 part mini-series, and my immediate reaction was: why? But I must admit I was rather curious about it, and now having seen the initial two episodes of this, I must say that the mini-series is a very different experience compared to the movie. It's not that the acting is inadequate. Alicia Vikander and Vincent Mcaigne (as the director) are tops. And the mini-series is very stylish and even sleek (plus it plays the 1979 classic tune "Moscow Discow" by Belgian electronics band Telex in the photoshoot scene, extra bonus point for that!). But it also lacks the originality, adrenaline and urgency of the 1996 movie. Yes, the 1996 movie was a bit rough around the edges, but frankly that is part of its charm. So based on the initial two episodes, the choice so far between the 1996 movie and the 2022 mini-series is an easy one: the 1996 movie wins.

"Irma Vep" (the mini-series) premiered on HBO Max a week ago, and new episodes are available on Sundays. If you are watching the mini-series without having seen the 1996 movie, I encourage you to conclude the mini-series and then check out the 1996 movie, and draw your own conclusion.

Not understanding the bad reviews

[mick118 · 9/10 · 23 June 2022]

This show is really well written and feels authentic. A peek into the life of a show, the actors, the director, the crew. It also feels quite personal from the director Olivier Assayas.

Give it a try and don't get influenced by the bad reviews who only watched the first episode..

Disjointed vignettes...

[smoke0 · 30 June 2022]

...are not interesting if there is no resolution or continuity. We see things happen and end scene. Then we see something else happen and end scene. Then we see another thing happen and all of these things feel like cliffhangers and then none of the things we have seen have any consequences in anything that follows what we've seen so what is the point of even watching?

Very addictive.

[daviddcvs · 7/10 · 21 June 2022]

This Tv show is about people making a TV show, so if you dislike anything Hollywood (spoiled movie stars, eccentric filmmakers, etc), annoying french artists and classic cinema/theatre, then look somewhere else. But if love this kind of thing, you're in for a treat. The show's writing and acting feels natural and fluid, and Alicia Vikander has an undeniable screen presence. . We've only seen the first two episodes, so don't expect me to give you my take on the first 30 minutes of a movie-You gotta watch the whole thing before you can talk crap about the story or characters.

Finally! A Series With Substance

[zac-68274 · 9/10 · 7 June 2022]

Can't express how I admire this series already. So believable it feels like the viewer is watching a documentary at times from the supreme acting to the astonishing cinematography!

The industry navel gazing

[nancyldraper · 7/10 · 28 July 2022]

IRMA VEP is a documentary series exploring the dark magic of filmmaking. No, not really, but it wants to be. The industry is going to love the series because it loves admiring itself in a mirror. Most viewers will scratch their heads wondering what it is about. I wonder if Alicia Vikander took this project because she was unsettled with her meteoric rise in the industry and she was questioning what she wanted in her future as an artist. As usual, she is the best thing about the series. I can't help wondering if Kristen Stewart accepted her minuscule role in the last episode of the series for the same reasons. Two performers who could have the pick of their next project pondering the worth of the medium. If you are at all captivated by the industry, you may hang in there for the whole series, seeing if it can land on its feet. If you are there only to be entertained, I doubt you'll hang in there or, if you do, you'll be very disappointed you abdicated your time. I rate the series, on Alicia alone, a 7 (good) out of 10 (I'd watch her reading the telephone book), but, otherwise it is a 5 (meh). {Existential Experiment}

Disappointed but not surprised

[heyitsdelfii · 1/10 · 26 July 2022]

I am so disappointed by this show and the fact that I wasted so much time of my life watching it. The lesbophobia and queerbaiting throughout the last episodes really ruined the mood for me and I find them disrespectful. I am tired.

Alicia's performance is the only thing I enjoyed. I wish Adria Arjona had more screen time, she is a gem.

Olivier Assayas doing a TV series!!!

[DukeEman · 8/10 · 10 June 2022]

Assayas remakes his 1996 cult classic into a long form cheeky essay on the machinations of the film world. Here he is able to delve deeper into the characters, most notably the ticking time bomb mind of the box-office American disillusioned star, Mira (Alicia Vikander having fun with her Tomb Raider popularity status). Mira travels to France to take on the role of Irma Vep in the modern remake of Les vampires. What seems to be an easy role, and a good excuse to be in France, ends up being more than what Mira has bargained for. There is enough mystic on the character only after episode 1, giving the viewer a reason to come back for further Mira encounters of the strange kind.

There is also the director, René Vidal, (Vincent Macaigne having a neurotic time of his life). The director had only a minor part in the film version, but in this series it seems that there will be plenty of time to slowly roast the hapless director with a breakdown of artistic proportions that only Assayas can pull off (and enjoy at the same time).

Yes, there are cliche characters, but as someone who works in the film industry, they do exist. With Assayas at the helm, it is going to be one super-duper ride into the disintegrating minds of the filmmakers as reality clashes with the surreal film world. So let's all sit back, and watch the madness unfold...

Vikander is wonderful, but Assayas should move on

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 3 February 2023]

As an homage to the original 1915-16 series, Les Vampires by Louis Feuillade and starring Musidora, this 8-episode series by Olivier Assayas starring Alicia Vikander certainly held my interest. Vikander is wonderful as the title character, and the weaving together of old clips with modern re-enactments was always fascinating to me. It was also a treat to hear anecdotes about the original production, like the wardrobe design, as well as bits from Musidora's memoir that were re-enacted. If it had focused more on these things, or confined itself to retelling the original series in some updated form, or perhaps been completely about the making of the original series over a century ago, I would have liked this much more, and I think it would have been artistically purer.

Unfortunately, it has more to do with a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the modern series, complete with the soap opera stories of the various cast and crew. Subplots include all of the romantic attachments for Mira (an anagram for Irma, get it?), including her ex-boyfriend who shows up looking for solace when his wife has a miscarriage, her ex-assistant/lover Laurie (Adria Arjona) who enjoys dominating and humiliating her, a flirtation with the wardrobe manager, and the secret yearning of her new assistant. None of this was all that interesting to me, and the bits with Laurie were repelling (I never care for stories along the lines of On Human Bondage and this felt like it). Her struggles to overcome past relationships as well as her insecurities provide parallels to the story line for the director of the show, a clear stand-in for Olivier Assayas himself (more on this later).

Other forgettable subplots include the actor playing Guerande (Vincent Lacoste) angling to have a sex scene added to the script and whining in general about how he and his character are perceived. There's a crack-addicted actor playing Moreno (Lars Eidinger) who shows up needing to score, and who later goes to the emergency room because they've found him hanging unconscious in his closet, a victim of autoerotic asphyxiation; Eidinger's performance is wonderful but this seemed like random, unnecessary drama. There are squabbles between producer and wardrobe manager, and a financier who wants Mira to sign a perfume deal above all else. All of it becomes a massive headache for the director (Vincent Macaigne), who varies between going to therapy and throwing temper tantrums. His babbling about spirits and his ex-wife (Vivian Wu) was, I believe, trying to communicate real truths from Assayas's life, but it was a lowlight for me.

And that brings me to Maggie Cheung, Assayas's real ex-wife, who hangs over this entire series, even though she had nothing to do with it. I hated the fact that Assayas referenced their marriage so directly, as it felt way too on-the-nose and personal, and of course didn't provide her perspective. All of the sessions with his therapist that cover this and other anxiety were tedious. Episode 4, where he carries on an extended conversation with "Jade Lee" (Vivian Wu) followed by inviting Alicia Vikander over to his apartment to talk about his insecurities relative to Louis Feuillade is a real low point. "First of all, stop whining," she tells him. Jesus, indeed. Another awful, awful scene is when Mira talks to "Jade Lee" in a later episode, after the director has stormed off the set. When Jade Lee whispers "Do it Rene," encouraging him to return, I almost threw up. These aspects of the production felt like a personal therapy session for Assayas over unresolved issues he had with Cheung, and should have been completely excised.

Vikander provides a steady counterbalance to these issues, however. She's engaging and fantastic slinking around in her modern catsuit as Irma Vep. Just as Musidora was cute in all of her various outfits and dressed up as a man, so is Vikander, and she plays both Mira, the insecure actor, and Irma, the confident criminal, very well. The reenactments from Musidora's memoirs didn't fit very well narratively, but were interesting as well, and included her convincing the police chief to let production continue after he had ordered it stopped because of indecency, Feuillade abruptly terminating the actor playing the Grand Vampire because he missed a day of work, the bomb going off in the café actually being a rather strong explosive, the scary scene where she needed to lay on the train tracks as it went over the top of her, and her final death which had shrapnel coming out of a gun loaded with "blanks." Lastly, even though it was a small part, I loved seeing Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater-Kinney and Portlandia fame) playing Mira's agent, and the continued breadth of her acting career.

Overall, it's a series I really wanted to like more, fond as I was of the original and Assayas's 1996 film, which he also references via clips and some elements of the story in later episodes. It's reasonably faithful to Feuillade's work, and while there are omissions, like the significant reduction of Mazamette's role, I have to give him credit for revitalizing this 107 year old work. At this point, however, my advice to him would be to leave references to Maggie Cheung out of his creative output, and move on.

Snooze Fest

[rkeilitz-19-537915 · 1/10 · 14 June 2022]

I was interested in watching this as I enjoyed the movie many years ago which was directed by Olivier Assayas and starring his then-wife Maggie Cheung. Olivier Assayas also directed this 8 mini-series and after the first chapter and half of the second chapter, I was bored. Alicia Vikander is as bland as oatmeal and just seems to sleepwalk through her lines. The rest of the cast mostly French overact as though they were in La Comédie Française.

Unexpected fun!

[thaimiles · 8/10 · 20 June 2022]

A popular actress joins a strange director and some other weird characters in a remake of an old silent film about Vampires who aren't really Vampires. I'm all in! Sure, much of it makes no sense but the fun is in the characters and what they do and say. Guess I was in the mood for something different because I like it more than most.

It's called "Irony"

[bclark063 · 7/10 · 23 June 2022]

The negative reviewers are correct only if they fail to see the irony. Of course it's about self-absorbed, narcissistic characters. But, in my opinion, the screen writers are in on the joke. It's a commentary on our self absorbed, self aggrandizing society.

Love it

[cinesteam · 10/10 · 13 June 2022]

I loved the first episode. I've been a big fan of Assayas for decades. His aesthetics seemingly align and influence my perspectives. His work feels incredibly personal and abundantly youthful. Self referential by nature, his inner influences are at play and the dynamics and how they effortlessly shift tone at the drop of a hat is really magical to watch. I can't wait to see how Alica Vikander handles the mysticism of the role, its history and the inevitable unraveling of its tantamount pressure.

Intellectual, for Cinephiles, Blah Blah Blah

[coco12345 · 6/10 · 25 July 2022]

Yes, it's a show only patient cinephiles will understand. But is there any pleasure in it? True, there are some fantastic characters. Well-written, deeply developed, brilliantly acted. But the main character is so flat and one-note. I like Alicia Vikandrer well enough but she has zero charisma and is the dullest character in the show. No amount of patience or Cinema 501 classes will help with that. If my app didn't remind me of new episodes I would completely forget to watch each week.

It's beautiful

[sun-mal · 8/10 · 24 June 2022]

I think it's a beautiful show. It doesn't have the regular tropes of 'huge drama' but the way it's done - its exquisite, elegantly structured. The comparative shoots from the old silent film to the remake is absolutely stunning, very charming, and aesthetic. The drama between the lead main actor and the director is quite interesting. And the director's own fetish with Irma Vep character - the way he is besotted with her - and how he is trapped in a loop of fascination for years - his sittings with his therapist - are interesting. And the choreographer - and learning of the dance moves by the lead character Mira - very nice. I love it. I do not expect exact 10 star perfection from any show - i have my takeaways - but here very well deserving takeaways. Long takes, dialogues. Nice. But now - for the most interesting part - the sizzling sexual/sensual chemistry between Mira and her ex Lauri - its oomph. This is the binding factor. You can feel it in the air between them. Just three episodes down. I don't know how its going to pan out from here on...

French /Woody Allen/Much more cocktailish

[nickochris · 6/10 · 7 June 2022]

I Like french film, so so on Woody too much talking, but the Much more they put into this new serie is great acting from Alicia Vikander, a feast for the eyes.

Its not for everyone, but after watching the first episode i have a feeling this show will slowly unfold.

Vikander is Executive producer on this one.

Pretentious and hollow

[mathiashornshojhansen · 3/10 · 7 June 2022]

The first word that comes to mind after watching the first episode of "Irma Vep" is boring. Not only that but also lazy in the way it's edited, shot and directed.

Every action in the series is unmotivated and pointless. It's fails to engage the audience in what goes on in front of us. Even Vikander doesn't manage to impress as there seems to have been some lack of direction for her character. She doesn't even seem to know what her character feels and thinks.

Without a director of photography you end up getting beautifully lit frames, but exceptionally boring shots. Not ONE single establishing shot was done. The whole first episode was shot with ONE focal length. You have to be extremely lazy to not have imagination to try something else.

Overall a painfully empty series which fails to be anything else but pretentious.

Just perfect ...

[ngswbxfx · 10/10 · 4 July 2022]

This is one of the most best and intend series in a long period of time for me, and we are only just in the middle of it ...

It's just a perfect combination of art, fashion, passion and character. Alicia Vikander is stunning as usual ... there is not one second where I have the feeling that she is not Mira or Irma ... this should be a AAA candidate for an Emmy best actress in a Drama series ...

I really don't understand some of the review I read ... there is one person who stopped watching because of two smoking actresses ... how ridiculous is this ?

If you don't smoke you don't smoke ... I'm also a non smoker ... but how in the world should that stop me from watching this great series ?

I only can strongly recommend that you don't miss on this amazing series ...

A bit disappointed

[kennedyadair · 6/10 · 29 July 2022]

Overall I loved this tv show: the themes, how they incorporated old time tv clips of Irma vep, and the characters were even interesting. But all was lost when they introduced Mira's love interests. They never were followed up and was essentially a trap to get viewers engaged. Seems pointless to present something to viewers that actually don't have an effect on the show.

A tv show about movies

[Adamanthe · 5/10 · 7 June 2022]

If you're into shows were the whole premise is an actor walking around, going to movie sets and having behind the scenes interactions with cast, crew and assistants then maybe you'll like this show. The plot is not interesting and if this was happening in front of me in real life I wouldn't even look twice.

The Magic of the Moving Pictures

[maya-stephani · 10/10 · 19 July 2022]

Irma Vep is a smart, fun, beautiful to look at series that will transport you. It's definitely for cinephiles, it's absolutely French and it will most certainly put stars in your eyes.

Olivier Assayas is a master and this is his way of paying hommage to his art. Often self-deprecating in a funny albeit touching manner, he reflects on his own life through his alter ego René.

The cast is stellar and Alicia Vikander spearheads it with such grace, that you will invariably develop a crush.

Ignore the bad reviews, watch this unique show. It will bring a few moments of happiness in our dark times.