Criterion Press Release: Irma Vep (1996) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

The live-wire international breakthrough of Olivier Assayas stars a magnetic Maggie Cheung as a version of herself: a Hong Kong action-movie star who arrives in Paris to play the latex-clad lead in a remake of Louis Feuillade’s classic silent crime serial Les vampires. What she finds is a behind-the-scenes tangle of barely controlled chaos as egos clash, romantic attractions simmer, and an obsessive director (a cannily cast Jean-Pierre Léaud) drives himself to the brink to realize his vision. Blending blasts of silent cinema, martial-arts flicks, and the music of Sonic Youth and Luna into a hallucinatory swirl of postmodern cool, Assayas composes a witty critique of the nineties French film industry and the eternal tension between art and commercial entertainment.
FILM INFO

Olivier Assayas
France
1996
99 minutes
Black and White/Color
1.66:1
French, English
Spine #1074
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New 2K digital restoration from the original camera negative, approved by director Olivier Assayas, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New interview with Assayas
On the Set of “Irma Vep,” a behind-the-scenes featurette
Interview from 2003 with Assayas and critic Charles Tesson
Interview from 2003 with actors Maggie Cheung and Nathalie Richard
Musidora, the Tenth Muse (2013), a documentary on the actor who originated the role of Irma Vep
Les vampires: Hypnotic Eyes (1916), the sixth episode in Louis Feuillade’s silent-film serial
Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung, a 1997 short film by Assayas
Black-and-white rushes for the film
English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Aliza Ma

New cover by Jillian Adel

April 27, 2021

 

[Ronald Epstein]

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[Peter McM]

I have the Zeitgeist DVD which I found at Half Price Books. Looking forward to the upgrade!

In related news--it was reported last month that Assayas is working on his own remake of Irma Vep, to be an HBO limited series and starring Alicia Vikander.