Honourable Mention: Irma Vep (Series)

I looked at Olivier Assayas’ film Irma Vep as a ‘Vamp or Not?’ because it is mentioned in Gelder’s New Vampire Cinema and whilst I don’t think it was Vamp, I would say it used some tropes, and it certainly was of genre interest. The film, of course, was about the remake of the classic French silent serial Les Vampires and it is, of itself, a very interesting piece of cinema.

This eight-episode limited series was also directed by Assayas and is, again, about the remake of the serial (as a serial rather than a feature). It stars some of the same actors, for instance producer Gregory Desormeaux is played in both film and series by Alex Descas or, if not, the same characters appear – so the unstable director is again René Vidal but played brilliantly by Vincent Macaigne. This time the actress brought in to play Irma Vep is Mira Harberg (Alicia Vikander) rather than Maggie Cheung (I’ll return to Cheung) and we should note that Mira is an anagram of Irma. We can look at this with a genre simile and nod as, of course, Irma Vep is an anagram of vampire and anagrams of names is a trope of the genre – be it of Carmilla or, in cinema, Dracula.

Irma Vep dances

However, I soon realised that this is not simply a serialisation and remake/expansion of the film by Assayas. Rather in this world Vidal made his film and this is the fictional director returning to his work and making a serial – almost a vanity project bankrolled by a perfume/cosmetics manufacturer who wants Harberg to be the face of their new product. She is fresh off the success of a blockbuster but wants to work with Vidal and is excited by this project.

reproduced bat costume

There is a shift, however, in story. In the series’ world the film did not star Maggie Cheung but Jade Lee (Vivian Wu), then a partner of Vidal and now a recluse but who appears in Paris, whilst still alive in Hong Kong, as almost a guardian spirit to Vidal. Cheung, according to IMDb, had been offered the opportunity to reprise her role but refused as she has retired from acting, though some imagery of her from the film does appear in series. Now this is one of the interesting things about this. In the film there is nothing really supernatural but Cheung does, outside of shooting, begin to embody Vep, wearing the latex cat suit and prowling the night. I saw this as method acting.

Mira passes through a wall

In this the production uses silk velvet for Vep’s cat suit but, again, Mira does wear it off-set, prowling the Paris rooftops at night whilst embodying Vep. It is worth noting here that there is comment within the series about the over-use of leather/latex in Hollywood, referencing superhero movies particularly. Unlike the first film there is an obviously supernatural element to this series, as it is the spirit of Vep (specifically the character, more than the spirit of the actress Musidora) that possesses Mira in those off-set moments and, as the series moves forward, we get moments were Mira literally passes through walls, instinctively knowing she can do so. This is not dismissed as device but has in series consequences. The work of Kenneth Anger is also referenced within the dialogue.

Lars Eidinger as Gottfried

This was a great series, it took the film and expanded on its themes. It was beautifully shot, had moments of Feuillade’s original within as well as overlays of the 1996 movie and also parts shot for the in-series serial that dramatized parts of Musidora’s memoires of the original shoot. I have mentioned that Macaigne was brilliant and, to be fair, so was the whole cast but Alicia Vikander was mesmerising as Mira/Irma/Musidora and Lars Eidinger gave an unforgettable performance as co-star Gottfried. This works on so many levels and was a really thoughtful piece of TV with plenty of genre interest.

The imdb page is here.

On Demand @ Amazon US

On Demand @ Amazon UK