Karl Puschmann: Irma Vep is self-indulgent, pretentious and I'm totally hooked

Alicia Vikander as the iconic French character Irma Vep in Neon's new series Irma Vep.

About halfway through the first episode of Irma Vep, I knew I wanted to write about it. Neon's new series is stylish, confident, playful and intriguing and it hooked me fairly quickly. By the end of the second episode, I still had no idea what I was going to say about it. Stuff had happened sure, but not much had actually happened. The series just floating past the standard rules of structure and storytelling.

I spent most of the third episode wondering how I was going to describe what the show was about or even what sort of show it is. We'll start with the latter, because that's easier - sort of. Irma Vep is a meta dramedy. Why I landed on this description will become apparent in a second.

It's a little more difficult to say what it's about but let's give it a shot; Irma Vep is a remake of the 1996 movie Irma Vep and is about the making of a TV series called Irma Vep which is a remake of the real 1915 French silent movie serial Les Vampires.

Mira in her dressing room in Irma Vep.

In the real Irma Vep, the real movie star Alicia Vikander plays the fictional movie star Mira Harberg who, in the fictional series, is playing the iconic character Irma Vep, who was originally portrayed by the real French actress Musidora in the real classic serial.

To make matters more confusing to describe, Irma Vep is constantly splicing between all of these different Irma Veps. You'll follow Mira in her trailer before she's called to set where she'll start acting the scene. Then it will cut and you'll find yourself watching the fictional series before it cuts to the original scene from Les Vampires, complete with title cards so you can read what those original silent actors are saying. Occasionally scenes from the 1996 movie will also be spliced in.

That's up to four different takes on the same scene. Which sounds like a viewing disaster but in practice works flawlessly and keeps you highly engaged with what's going on.

Irma Vep, played by Alicia Vikander, slipping into the night.

So that's what happens. What Irma Vep's about is the battle between commerce and art, the chaos and pressure of making movies or television and the razor-thin line between acclaim and failure and what happens when both of those things come packaged together.

It's also about relationships, with Mira at the spinning core of it all. The actress is still in love with her ex, her former assistant, who has now moved on and is relishing the power reversal in their relationship. Mira's costume designer is crushing on her and despite the age difference, the pair have engaged in a flirtatious relationship. And the boyfriend she dumped to pursue her assistant is back on the scene and needing a shoulder to cry on after receiving some tragic news. A shoulder Mira appears willing to offer...

Alicia Vikander as the actor Mira, learning her lines in Irma Vep.

Things are just as complicated on the professional front; the acclaimed director is an anxiety-ridden mess, the lead actor's an obnoxious crack addict and Mira's agent is constantly on the phone hassling her to leave the troubled, arty series and instead take a high profile, high paying part in Marvel's new blockbuster superhero movie.

As the pressure mounts Mira begins to escape more and more into her iconic character, taking on her graceful mannerisms and criminal persona by slipping into the Irma Vep catsuit after hours to slink gracefully around her hotel and the rooftops of Paris. While in Les Vampires Irma Vep was a murderess, Mira is content to slip unnoticed into people's rooms or homes to steal wallets, watches and credit cards. So far at least...

So there's a lot going on but it never feels like it. Most often the show's rhythms reflect life with naturalistic performances that occasionally find themselves pushing into the bizarre or surreal. The show's unashamedly self-indulgent, some might say pretentious, but it's always entertaining.

Mira musing on her next move in Irma Vep.

This is why I kept watching and wanted to write about it, even as I sat wondering how to best talk about such an odd duck of a series.

Fortunately for me, early in the fourth episode, there was an exchange between the financier of the fictional Irma Vep and the show's writer-director.

"It's a fantastic project," he said with a look of concern. "But I'm told our viewers won't find it binge-worthy. It's more of a niche product. But it's a prestige product."

This sums up the series perfectly. An incredibly self-aware summation by the real show's actual writer-director dissecting his own creation.

Onscreen, a hopeful smile crossed the writer-director's face.

"You never know," he said. "It might be a big hit."