In a new film called Eden, the French director Mia Hansen-Løve tells the story about the rise of the French electronic music scene in the 1990s through the eyes of a young producer/DJ by the name of Paul played by Félix de Givry and his friends. Two of those friends happen to be Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter better know as the 'robot' duo Daft Punk. Eden also features music from the famous duo.
While this story is about French dance music, it is also a coming of age story for the main character played by Félix de Givry. The film will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival this Sunday. Here is synopsis of Eden:
Electronic dance music is the rock 'n' roll of our time. And the jazz. And the punk. Whichever your frame of reference, EDM calls to mind stories of creative genius and staggering fame — but also of lives lost and abandoned in the night. It's not easy to capture the texture of this culture on film, but writer-director Mia Hansen-Love has found an ideal approach.
Paul (Félix de Givry) is a teenager in the underground dance music scene of early-nineties Paris. Raves dominate, but he's drawn to the more soulful rhythms of Chicago's garage house scene. He and a friend form a DJ duo called — with unfathomable layers of irony — Cheers. Two of their friends form a group with a similarly odd name: Daft Punk. These young artists plunge into the life, building their following one set at a time, dropping out of daytime society to form a community based on the high of the ceaseless beats and bass. There are drugs. There is sex. Paul hooks up with an American in Paris, played by the spirited Greta Gerwig (also appearing at the Festival in The Humbling), but that may be fleeting.