Irma Vep Drama Review

『Past Love and Professional Power Intersect, Revealing Subtle Cracks』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Irma Vep (2022)
🌍 Country: 🇺🇸🇫🇷 USA · France
🎞️ Genre: Comedy / Meta-Film
🗓️ Production & Release: A24·Vortex Sutra, etc. / HBO (USA), 1 Season · 8 Episodes
⏳ Runtime: Approx. 46–58 minutes per episode
📢 Director: Olivier Assayas
🖋️ Writer: Olivier Assayas
📖 Based on: 1996 film of the same name
📺 Platform: HBO / HBO Max, etc.

👩‍💼 Cast: Alicia Vikander – Mira Harberg
Adria Arjona – Laurie
Jeanne Balibar – Zoé

Kristen Stewart – Special Appearance

🧩 Deep Story Exploration (Spoilers)

👻 Meta-Cinema and Ghosts

“Irma Vep” follows the production process of a TV series remake of the 1915 French silent film serial Les Vampires.

• Plot: Hollywood A-list actress Mira Harberg becomes disillusioned with her career after starring in a superhero film ("Doomsday") and travels to Paris to take on the lead role of the villain Irma Vep in the remake.
• Director René Vidal: The director of the remake shares the same name as the director of the 1996 film, René Vidal. He faces anxiety, artistic confusion, and constant conflicts with actors and crew, putting the project at risk.
• Fusion of Reality and Role: As Mira films, she experiences a blurring of the boundaries between herself and the character Irma Vep. When wearing Irma Vep’s black leather costume, she undergoes supernatural experiences, such as walking through walls and climbing rooftops.

🤯 Remake of a Remake

The most distinctive feature of this series is its nested meta-structure.

• Layers of Time: The series explores the artistic legacy across three time periods.
  1. 1915: Original silent film Les Vampires by Louis Feuillade.
  2. 1996: Olivier Assayas’ own film featuring Chinese actress Maggie Cheung as Irma Vep, Irma Vep.
  3. 2022: HBO mini-series Irma Vep based on the 1996 film.
• Self-Reference and Ghosts: René Vidal’s character reflects Assayas himself, the director of the 1996 film. Scenes in which René sees the ghost or hallucinates his Asian ex-wife (the actress who played Irma Vep in 1996) bring Assayas’ personal history—including marriage and divorce with Maggie Cheung—into the story, exploring the artist’s unfinished business and ghosts of the past.
• Art in the Age of Content: The series intellectually considers how contemporary long-form bingeable content for streaming platforms (HBO) connects to the serial format of the silent film era.

💔 Mira and Laurie: Past Residue and Power Imbalance

Laurie is Mira’s ex-girlfriend and former assistant. At the start of the series, their romantic relationship is over, but Laurie remains deeply involved in Mira’s life.

• Nature of Relationship: Their bond mixes personal love with professional dependence, embedding an unhealthy power imbalance from the beginning. Mira takes Laurie’s devoted support for granted, while Laurie projects her identity onto Mira’s success and remains emotionally dependent.
• Lingering Emotions: Even after the relationship ends, Laurie cannot let go of her love-hate feelings and obsession toward Mira. Mira, too, fails to fully release Laurie, still relying on her for emotional stability and convenience.
• Reenactment of Trauma: Laurie’s presence reminds Mira of her past and highlights Mira’s avoidant tendencies in confronting her own emotions. This relationship shows that Mira seeks controllable emotional comfort rather than genuine love or healthy intimacy.

💖 Mira and Zoé: Present Stability and New Attempts

Zoé works at Mira’s French agency and newly enters Mira’s personal sphere.

• Nature of Relationship: Unlike Laurie, Zoé represents the potential for a new, neutral relationship, unbound by Mira’s career or past traumas. She exudes intellectual and calm charm, providing Mira a safe space to attempt a romantic connection.
• Emotional Maturity: Zoé strives to understand Mira’s complex life and stardom while maintaining her own boundaries. This demands a mutually respectful, mature relationship rather than unilateral dependence or control.
• Future Possibility: Mira’s connection with Zoé reflects her attempt to pause the chaos surrounding her and find emotional stability. Even as Mira becomes captivated by the ghostly allure of Irma Vep, her link with Zoé anchors her to the real world.

🎭 Acting and the Boundary of Reality

The Mira-Laurie relationship carries significance beyond a simple romance.

• Laurie (Past/Addiction): Laurie is bound to Mira’s past and self-destructive patterns. She is addicted to Mira’s star image while relying on Mira’s emotional turmoil. This connection signifies a vulnerability that allows Mira to be more easily consumed by the “ghost” of Irma Vep.
• Competition with Irma Vep: This dynamic also competes with the transcendent ghost Irma Vep. The more Mira fuses with Irma Vep (e.g., roaming at night in the black costume), the further she drifts from real-world relationships, including Laurie and Zoé. Irma Vep becomes the ultimate alternative for identity, love, and freedom, testing all of Mira’s real-life bonds.

🌟 Ghosts, Reality, and Desire

The relationships among Mira, Laurie, and Zoé give the series’ meta exploration a human dimension. Mira’s bond with Laurie embodies the burden of the past and addiction, while her connection with Zoé represents future possibilities and healthy intimacy. Mira’s love story dramatically portrays her struggle to balance her identity as an actress and as a human being. To find true love, she must first liberate her identity from the ghosts of roles and past memories, conveying a complex message.

🎯 Personal Rating (Preference-Based)

⭐ Rating: ★★★★