Our first impressions on Irma Vep – Life imitates art, arriving today on Sky Atlantic and NOW, they could not arrive at a better time, because in recent days, auteur films are once again peeping out, showing themselves in all their glory, as if to give us proof of how the best ideas are always welcomed with enthusiasm and curiosity. In the case of Irma Vepinstead, its origin, its author, its director and its creator must be taken into consideration carefully, because drawing from the past is a double-edged sword, a slipknot that could tighten around the neck without letting go.
Despite the passing of the years, we are always enchanted by Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Adam McKay and Quentin Tarantino, who has directed many, many productions, making himself known for his extreme and exaggerated cut, the same that he now carries with him. from pulp Fiction. A cut that, mind you, we adore and find unparalleled, especially in such a chaotic landscape full of proposals.
Irma Vep – Life imitates art it is nothing more than an adaptation of a feature film released in 1996 by the French director Olivier Assayas, one of the most famous and renowned filmmakers of the French cinema, who twenty-six years later returns to his most memorable production, approaching the funny events of a close-knit cast that might remind someone of Boris’ one, with the difference that there is no René who yells, snorts and screams, known the very recognizable phrases that we cannot pronounce (even if the temptation is obviously great)
1996 and 2022: two different dates, two different historical moments; at the time we were still veterans of Francis Ford Coppola and his Dracula and now, in the sultry 2022, we are enchanted by Stranger Things and from Better Call Saul, while The Boys is on everyone’s lips like the cream of a Sammontana ice cream. But what does this have to do with Irma Vep – Life imitates art? Everything, if we think about it, because in 1996 not only the period was different but the realities that revolved around cinema and its universe such as social struggles, which are now relevant above all in the realization of a film production so that it can be digested by everyone, and not only by some, cincluded and accepted without difference.
If on the one hand it is sacrosanct, on the other it is a choice that may not please everyone, and this happens to pursue an acceptance that often clashes with the fidelity of a production which, losing its purpose, misses the message. We had already talked about it with Resident Evil, but this is a discourse that does not concern Irma Vep – Life imitates art, much less the first five episodes that we have had the opportunity to preview in the last few days.
For those who do not know Irma Vep and want to recover it, they must know that its history does not start from the classic canons we are used to, but the focus is all on those who live a film and its creation, on those who see it born, then making it known to the world.
Actors who play actors and directors who play directors: what is real in Irma Vep?
Irma Vep talks about actors, directors and assistant directors, about friends and broken loves, about lost dreams and desire for revenge, but also about a parallel story, which our protagonists live on their skin. In fact, looking at Alicia Vikander (The girl with tulips, The Danish Girl), the story of Irma Vep – Life imitates art does not seem to betray its origins and speaks directly and outspokenly of Mira, the protagonist played by the Swedish actress, leaving the United States to reach France, ready to play a complex role in the remake of the French silent serial called “The Vampires“By Louis Feuillaide, dated 1916, at the time in black and whiteor.
The will of René Vidal, who sees the return of Antoine Macaigne (The game of copies), is to propose to the general public a modern and more in-depth version of a film that has remained in the annals of cinematography. “The Vampires”, in fact, is a product that any director dreams of directing and shaping in their own way. If in 1996 Olivier Assayas devoted himself to a single filmin this 2022 he decided to divide his into eight episodes, a smart choice.
Not giving you too many spoilers, Irma Vep it has a slow but still captivating rhythm, making itself interesting from the first moment with simplicity, presenting the protagonists of the events with extreme naturalness, giving us tangible proof of how difficult it is to work in the way of the cinema behind the camera. If on the one hand there is the desire to create a memorable work, on the other the protagonists and the various supporting actors find themselves facing much more than the classic difficulties that such a delicate production finds itself facing. The protagonists, interfacing with their roles, they find themselves as the story goes on different and similar, no longer defining what is real or not.
Don’t be scared, this is not a psychological thriller or a horror, because the director is Olivier Assayas, who wrote an incredible story twenty-six years ago, built in great detail, ironic and never predictable, with the right timing and rhythms never too hasty. At the moment, in fact, the story of Irma Vep – Life imitates art is modern and easy to understand for anyone looking for a deep story made up of passion and emphasis, as well as outlined in a meticulous way.
A certainly fascinating side of the production, which for the moment is certainly the best thing, is the writing of the events and dialogues, which fit together like two enveloped branches and then offer a vision of the world that binds Mira and Réne in a convincing way. The interpretations of Alicia Vikander and Antoine Macaigne were precisely able to further embellish the story, with each episode containing a moral ready to make itself known only at the enddemonstrating the high quality level of this intellectual series with an irresistible charm.
La morale de l’histoire (The moral of the story)
Mira is a girl who fled the United States after a scandal that almost cost her career, but in her past there is not only this: she has been romantically linked to a man, a woman and her assistantas if he had the world at his feetwhich he lost due to bad choices.
Despite her smile and appearances, under her armor there is a fragile girl, burnt by the episode that forced her to leave her world, embarking on an adventure that could represent much more than a classic. film where the protagonist is played. And if on the one hand we have Alicia Vikander, who showed off all her talent for the occasion, on the other there is Antoine Macaigne, who finds himself impersonating a director close to a nervous breakdownwho quarrels with the actors and his assistants, facing the weight of a marriage on the way to sunset and the distance from his son.
The desire for revenge of a girl and the hope of a better future: in Irma Vep – Life imitates art the present is faced with decision, while the future, which is an unknown, proves to be the biggest question mark of the lives of its protagonists. What is real and what is not? It is the worst question anyone could ask. To find the right answer, at the moment, we need to have a complete view of the entire season, so as to arrive at an even more comprehensive overall evaluation. We don’t love unanswered questions.
