Irma Vep

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Irma Vep

1996,

1h 39m,

Comedy/

Drama

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Watchlist

94%

49 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

49 Reviews

71%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Washed-up French director René Vidal (Jean-Pierre Léaud) hopes to turn his career around with an update of "Les Vampires," a silent-era masterpiece about a notorious ring of thieves, led by crafty female crook Irma Vep. René brings in Chinese star Maggie Cheung (Maggie Cheung) to play Vep, but unexpected roadblocks arise on the set. Maggie doesn't know French, she's pursued by obsessive lesbian crew member Zoe (Nathalie Richard) and her character's criminal ways begin to rub off on her.

Critics Consensus

Starring a bewitching Maggie Cheung, Irma Vep is an evocative and reflexive satire of the filmmaking process that is bursting at the seams with an affection for cinema.

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Alyx Vesey

Bitch Media

Jan 11, 2021

Irma Vep is a magnificently varied film, integrating film footage, press interviews, gossip, and film's hurry-up-and-wait production schedule. Cheung in particular does a masterful job playing herself, at once transparent and opaque.

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Melissa Anderson

4Columns

Oct 9, 2020

An exhilarating film that happens to be about moviemaking itself, Olivier Assayas's sinuous, kinetic, waggish Irma Vep is an oblique, supremely enjoyable course in movie history.

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Keith Phipps

AV Club

Jun 16, 2020

A funny and fascinatingly open-ended look at the state of the art, Irma Vep is well worth a look.

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Ray Pride

Newcity

Oct 1, 2026

10/10

Cut-up and cacophony... breezy yet dense with detail, a punk-inflected meditation on film history as well as a bright comedy about work, lust and latex.

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Andrew Wyatt

The Take-Up

Jun 26, 2026

Assayas' "stranger in a strange land" dramedy still shines, 30 years later: an acerbic, insouciant and yet virtuosic delight about movies, movie-making, art, commerce, cultural identity, and the allure of a latex catsuit.

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Julian Singleton

Cinapse

Jul 12, 2025

A dizzying blur of cinema and reality, erasing the lines between medium, inspiration, and artistic appreciation.

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Olivier Assayas

Director

Maggie Cheung

Self

Jean-Pierre Léaud

René Vidal

Nathalie Richard

Zoé

Antoine Basler

Journalist

Nathalie Boutefeu

Laure

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Synopsis

Washed-up French director René Vidal (Jean-Pierre Léaud) hopes to turn his career around with an update of "Les Vampires," a silent-era masterpiece about a notorious ring of thieves, led by crafty female crook Irma Vep. René brings in Chinese star Maggie Cheung (Maggie Cheung) to play Vep, but unexpected roadblocks arise on the set. Maggie doesn't know French, she's pursued by obsessive lesbian crew member Zoe (Nathalie Richard) and her character's criminal ways begin to rub off on her.

Director: Olivier Assayas
Producer: Georges Benayoun
Screenwriter: Olivier Assayas
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films, Fox Lorber
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 28, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 9, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $191.2K
Runtime: 1h 39m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, Surround
Aspect Ratio: 35mm, 1.66:1

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