Irma Vep revolves around Mira, an American movie star disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup, who comes to France to star as Irma Vep in a television series adaptation of the French silent film serialLes Vampires. Set against the backdrop of a lurid crime thriller, Mira struggles as the distinctions between herself and the character she plays begin to blur and merge.[1]
Alicia Vikander as Mira Harberg, a Swedish-born American actress keen to change the direction of her career and shake off a recent tabloid scandal.
Vikander also portraysMusidora during flashback scenes.
Vincent Macaigne as René Vidal, the director of the television series whose history ofanxiety disorders, incoherent artistic vision, and constant clashes with the cast, crew and producers all threaten to derail the project.
Macaigne also portraysLouis Feuillade during flashback scenes.
Carrie Brownstein as Zelda, Mira's agent. She is not interested in theVampires project and does not accept that Mira is uninterested in playing the girlfriend in the upcoming "Silver Surfer" movie, despite Mira's repeated refusal of the role.
Lars Eidinger as Gottfried, a drug-addicted German actor hired to play Juan-José Moréno.
Eidinger also portraysFernand Herrmann during a flashback scene in the sixth episode.
Tom Sturridge as Eamonn, Mira's ex-boyfriend. He's in Paris for a movie, and they have not seen each other since they broke up.
Fala Chen as Cynthia Keng, a rising star from Hong Kong hired by René Vidal to play Irma Vep's provocative accomplice and part of the Vampires' plans.
Pascal Greggory as Gautier Parcheminerie, a man who is financing the series so that Mira agrees to work on a campaign for his cosmetics brand
Sigrid Bouaziz as Séverine, a French actress hired to play Marfa Koutiloff, and Edmond's ex-girlfriend
Vivian Wu as Jade Lee, René's ex-wife who played Irma Vep in its previous remake. Archival footage ofMaggie Cheung from the1996 movie is used when Jade appears as Irma.
Lou Lampros as Galatée, an aspiring actress hired to play Jeanne Brémontier.
Lampros also portraysLouise Lagrange during a flashback scene in the eighth episode.
Additionally,Valérie Bonneton portrays Mira's French PR, Élizabeth Mazev appears asMusidora in an interview from 1947, while Jean-Luc Vincent portrays the host.Denis Podalydès appears as the Police Prefect during a flashback scene, Maya Persaud plays Sandra, a member of the production, andJérôme Commandeur portrays Angus, a production executive. Alexandre Steiger plays Jules, an actor portraying Mazamette, while Stefan Bohne appears as Thor, a bondage consultant on the series, Mélodie Richard as Aurélia, an actress portraying Augustine, andMaud Wyler as Rebekah, an actress portraying Mme D'Alba.
Also appearing areNathalie Richard as Ondine, Calypso Valois as Edmond's Girlfriend,Maya Sansa as Grégory's wife,Jess Liaudin as the actor portraying Satanas, Bertrand Pazos asSacha Guitry, and Laurent Papot asAlbert Willemetz. French comic Panayotis Pascotcameo as a young executive, and Aude Pépin as the voice of René's wife.Kristen Stewart appears in the eighth episode as Lianna, a famous pop star and Eamonn's girlfriend who recently suffered a miscarriage.
Assayas started developing the miniseries in May 2020 as a loose adaptation of the film, with it being officially ordered by HBO in December 2020 and to be written and directed by Assayas.[11]
Jürgen Doering created the costumes for the series whileLouis Vuitton's creative directorNicolas Ghesquière is the designer behind Irma Vep's costume.[20]
The series premiered on June 6, 2022, onHBO in the United States. It also streams onHBO Max. In France, episodes premiere onOCS's streaming service the morning after the American broadcast then aired onOCS City on the evening.
Unlike many series that alternate dialogue in French and in another language, the production decided to not dub the English-language scenes in French for the French broadcast. A version with the English dialogues dubbed was later produced when the series was added onHBO Max in France.[21]
Irma Vep was met with critical acclaim upon release, with praise towardsVikander's performance. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 95%, based on 57 reviews with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Catnip for cinephiles and a welcome spotlight for the spellbinding Alicia Vikander,Irma Vep is a worthwhile expansion of writer-director Olivier Assayas' cinematic opus".[22] OnMetacritic, it has a score of 84 out of 100, based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[23]
Following its premiere at the75th Cannes Film Festival, Daniel Fienberg ofThe Hollywood Reporter described the series as "loose and intellectually loopy, broad and jokey one moment and wallowing in sad self-absorption the next" and found Vikander's performance "wonderfully light and open".[24]
In his review forVariety, Daniel D'Addario commended Vikander's performance, concluding: "If big-budget moviemaking is a prison, then Vikander-as-Mira, sylphlike and darting, is going to wiggle out between the bars."[25] David Cote ofThe A.V. Club graded it with an "A" and praised Assayas's direction, writing "It's a masterful handling of visual vocabularies, arguably the most sophisticated serial moviemaking HBO has ever produced".[26]RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico called it a "smart, twisting look behind-the-scenes, and a reminder that Olivier Assayas is one of the best alive today in the filmmaking business, and apparently TV too".[27] In his review forThe Ringer, Adam Nayman wrote, "The pleasures of a show likeIrma Vep lie in its relentless cleverness and post-modern sophistication—the way it flaunts its own intelligence and frame of reference", praising the characters and direction.[28]
