Irma Vep – 1996

• 2021/10/14

Olivier Assayas’s polyglot satyre is that rare film that can have its cake and eat it too. It skewers French cinema, whilst acting as a subversive love letter to an often surreal industry, and it makes us revel in the frailties of its odd characters, especially the incomparable Maggie Cheung, who can convey entire worlds of meaning with just a raised eyebrow. Magical stuff.