MovieChat Forums > Irma Vep (1997) Discussion > Confusing aspects of this film

Confusing aspects of this film


I'll say first up that I liked Irma Vep. It had a really nice feel to it, and was quite engaging and funny at times.

However, several things in the movie confused me...
1) What was the deal with the ending? It was pretty stunning, granted, but I just didn't quite get what it meant. Firstly I thought that Rene had snapped and completely vandalised the film to show that it was a completely flawed project, then I thought it was supposed to represent the fact that he had turned it into the film he wanted to make, some sort of experimental short. What are other people's views on this?

2) Why does Maggie steal the necklace? This scene was really weird... it didn't help that I'd forgotten who the naked woman on the phone was :P lol.

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David:

A few "literary" thoughts on your questions:

1) On Rene's final edit screened at the end of the movie...

Rene was entranced by the idea of Maggie, dressed in the cat suit, playing an updated Irma Vep. Why this should be so important to him he doesn't say (and in fact he probably couldn't explain it even to himself). But he does say that this image is what gave him the confidence to undertake the remake of Les Vampires. As he sadly admits later, the inspiration of this image wasn't enough to become a "flesh and blood" film--it was all surface without a core. The inspiration was a failure and the production is in shambles, but the magic of Maggie's image still enthralls him. Given this situation, I see his experimental film as a personal struggle with Maggie's image as his inconstant muse. It may be a pretentious leap, but I would compare his disordered, obsessive film to the experience of an infant being denied his mother's breast. Rene's artistic muse has abandoned him, and we can feel in the violence and distance of the film the anger and sadness that he feels. While the film has an icy avant-garde quality, it also has a spasmodic, id-like feel. Therefore, I consider Rene's film to be both a working-through of his mental breakdown and an artistic response to the whole episode. He may also consider it a tribute to Maggie as an actress.

2) On why Maggie steals the necklace...

Maggie's nocturnal adventure is a difficult section to interpret. On one level, we could see this as Maggie acting out, in real life, an episode from her screenplay. In the original 1915 movie, a similar burglary of jewels takes place in an American woman's bedroom by a black-clad "Vampire." So this could have been in Rene's script, and Maggie could be trying to get to the core of her character (in response to Rene saying she was only "on the surface"). On another level, this adventure could have a more personal meaning for the Maggie character--above and beyond her need to play Irma Vep. It could, in fact, have something to do with personally with Maggie Cheung the Real actress, as has been suggested by at least one writer. In her hotel room, Maggie is restlessly reading magazines centered on celebrity ("Premiere," "Interview," etc.) and the song we hear (supposedly on her stereo) is about the singer Karen Carpenter dying and meeting other dead celebrities in the afterlife. Maggie "closes the door" on this song and goes sneaking around the hotel. One writer (I don't have the citation on me) relates this scene and her interview the next day to Maggie Cheung's real situation as an actress. On another level, we can see the adventure as a dream from which Maggie awakes when Zoë bursts into her room the next day. The nocturnal adventure sequence contains several subtle clues that make us wonder whether this could be a dream. Ultimately, I am not sure what to make of it all, but I do think that Assayas is working with the interplay between dreams, movies, and real life--especially concerning the idea of inspiration.

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No, NO a really good film, don´t need so so long explanations....

Oscar from Rosario City
Argentina

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The films that confound and cause us to question their structure are the films that stay longest in the memory. Should film always be required to make sense? If so David Lynch would still be running around with his 8mm. I loved Irma Vep for it's underlying complexity, and I applaud it's ability to raise questions, but sometimes a clinical deconstruction is to demean the original intent.

Watch it. Enjoy it. Share it.

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[deleted]

David:

A question for you: What are you trying to say about the naked woman in the scene? Did you think you have seen here elsewhere in the movie? As far as I know, we don't see or hear anything about this character except for the scene of her talking on the phone. But if you have other ideas, I'd be interested in hearing them.

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I tend to have a problem when watching films where I get characters mixed up and stuff because I forget what they look like :P this is what happened here. I'm sure if I watched it again I'd be right.

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Naked chick = Arsinée Khanjian, Adam Egoyan's wife. I think she was suposed to represent americans, stealing from americans... (She's infact Lebanese/Canadian)

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