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But she has built her web of fame through plenty of self-reference to her own real lived life.

As with the previous picture, Adkins co-wrote the screenplay with Stu Small, though this time the veteran British thriller director Jesse V. Johnson has been replaced by newcomers George and Harry Kirby, who tip the tone from tongue-in-cheek self-reference to something more akin to a live-action cartoon.

Leaving aside the self-reference and winks at the audience, the director instead tells this highly metafictional story in a dozen docu-realistic vignettes, revealing the alienation of urban life and the cruelty of men.

Gokavi wrote back then about Freeman’s capacity to wink, about his chronic but unserious self-reference as “The Deuce,” an homage to his jersey number.

And each iteration of “Irma Vep” brings additional, increasingly complex ripples of self-reference.