Irma Vep / Beware of a Holy Whore (A/B-)
Now Playing: (1997, Olivier Assayas / 1971, R.W. Fassbinder) [seen in theatre]
Normally when I watch one of these director-chosen double bills, I take comfort in the idea that even if the first one isn't great, the second will likely be. So imagine how I felt when it worked the opposite way this time. Should've expected it though, since I've already seen Irma Vep about half a dozen times and I know it's a masterpiece, but Fassbinder's variation on the same theme was quite a disappointment. A lot of it can be blamed on the fact that Fassbinder's film feels pretty aimless- aside from the (un-)making of the film that's going on, scenes mostly play as stand-alone vignettes, without much in the way of unifying ideas or momentum. Fassbinder's sense of composition is impeccable here, but even the best scenes (like the one where Hanna Schygulla dances alone to Ray Charles while a fight starts to break out near her) don't really bear a great deal of resemblance to what came before or after. The characters are pretty much your usual Fassbinderian gallery of dysfunctional folk, except for Schygulla (looking hot, I might add) as an actress who mostly just sleeps around and keeps a distance from the drama, and Eddie Constantine as himself, who is so far out of the other characters' loop that he's almost like a ghost. The major difference between the two films, story-wise, is that while Fassbinder's characters are mostly groupies of the director who don't really seem to care much about the movie that is(n't) getting made, Assayas populates his film with professionals who all do their job. So when the film getting made in Irma Vep unravels, it's more interesting since it demonstrates that everyone's effort is needed for a film to get made successfully, and even if everyone works for it it still won't necessarily happen. Plus the characters are most realistic and complex and cool in the Assayas film, going about their own personal business instead of mostly sitting at the hotel bar all day drinking Cuba Libres and listening to the jukebox (which seems to have mostly Leonard Cohen songs). Assayas' film is a masterpiece; Fassbinder's is easily the least of his works that I've seen.