The “holy whore” is cinema. With production on 1971's Whity stalled, R. W. Fassbinder stayed at his castle-in-Spain location and filmed this jagged chronicle of interpersonal confrontations among the remaining film crew.
“In almost every single interview I've given about Irma Vep I had to discuss the reference to Day for Night. And every single time I've said that as much as I love Day for Night, it certainly wasn't an inspiration for Irma Vep as it deals with a premodern time in cinema I know nothing about, whereas Beware of a Holy Whore is much more relevant to my experience of making films. Actually I consider it to be the seminal film about modern cinema, by a filmmaker I immensely admire. And of course it's no accident Lou Castel is in Irma Vep . . .