"A dizzying Chinese box of a film" – Film Society of Lincoln Center

Maggie Cheung has arrived in Paris to play the lead role in a remake of Louis Feuillade's silent serial Les Vampires. As she struggles to negotiate the language barrier, the chaotic nature of the shoot and the director's caprices, the entire production begins to falter. Cheung, however, is only just beginning to get into character.

A wry and at times startling film, Olivier Assayas' Irma Vep is a brilliant satire on modern filmmaking and the process of globalisation. Maggie Cheung (as herself) plays the role of bemused outsider superbly, while Jean-Pierre Léaud offers one of his great late performances as the ailing, neurotic auteur.

"Nothing is simple in this comic-acrid portrait of globalized times." – Slate

For further information on Irma Vep, read the Senses of Cinema dossier.