Irma Vep was written anddirected by Olivier Assayas, who previously contributed to Cahiers du cinemaand was particularlycriticalof the then-shambolicstateof the French film industry.
Assayas is a virtuoso with the camera, and he may have something serious to say about the brutal impersonality of global capitalism, yet the characters jump around so much, and shift alliances so rapidly, that you wind up not giving a damn about any of them.