Eden (2014 French film)

Eden
Film poster
Directed by	Mia Hansen-Løve
Produced by	Charles Gillibert Jimmy Price
Written by	Mia Hansen-Løve Sven Hansen-Løve
Starring	Félix de Givry Pauline Etienne Golshifteh Farahani
Music by	Daft Punk Joe Smooth Frankie Knuckles Terry Hunter
Cinematography	Denis Lenoir
Edited by	Marion Monnier
Production company	CG Cinéma
Distributed by	Broad Green Pictures
Release dates	5 September 2014 (2014-09-05) (TIFF) 19 November 2014 (2014-11-19) (France)
Running time	131 minutes
Country	France
Language	French English
Budget	$5.2 million
Box office	$63,345[1]

Eden is a 2014 French drama film directed by Mia Hansen-Løve and co-written with Sven Hansen-Løve. The film stars Félix de Givry and Pauline Etienne. The film premiered in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.^[2] It was also screened in the 52nd edition of the New York Film Festival^[3] and the BFI London Film Festival.^[4] The film's U.S. theatrical release was 19 June 2015.^[5]

Plot

Paul Vallée is a young French student who enjoys going to raves. Eventually he partners with his friend Stan to form a DJ duo called Cheers around the same time as two of his other friends Guy-Man and Thomas form the DJ duo Daft Punk. In university he hopes to be a writer but as time goes on he abandons his thesis as his DJing career takes off. In 2001 he and his friend Cyril are invited to New York to DJ at PS1 MoMA but Cyril refuses to go, having finally decided to commit to the graphic novel he had wanted to write. Paul's time in New York is a success, but upon his return he learns that Cyril committed suicide shortly after finishing his graphic novel.

For a while Paul is successful however by 2006 his spending begins to catch up with him as his audience shrinks. He begins to turn to his mother to keep him financially afloat. As his life begins to crumble he runs into an old girlfriend, Louise. He hopes they can romantically reconnect but she informs Paul that she once had an abortion after becoming pregnant with his child. Paul has a nervous breakdown and confesses to his mother that he is addicted to cocaine and is deeply in debt.

By 2013 Paul has manage to rehabilitate his life and works for a vacuum repair company by day while attending a creative writing workshop by night. At one of the workshop sessions he talks to a young girl who asks him what he does. When he tells her he is a former DJ who specialized in garage music she admits that the only techno she listens to is Daft Punk.

Later Paul goes to a club where he sees Guy-Man and Thomas again.

Cast

Production

Sven Hansen-Løve (left) served as the inspiration for Paul, played by Félix de Givry (right).

The film is loosely based on Mia Hansen-Løve's brother Sven's life. In addition to being the inspiration behind the film he also co-wrote the script.

The film took three years to be produced in part because obtaining the rights to the music was so expensive. Hansen-Løve went through two different producers over the course of the pre-production process and was only able to obtain the necessary rights to license the music after Daft Punk agreed to license their music for the lowest possible fee causing other musicians to join them.^[6]

Filming began in November 2013 and was completed on 31 January 2014.^[7][8]

Reception

Eden received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 83% based on 92 reviews and an average rating of 7.4/10. The consensus statement reads, "Eden uses 1990s club culture as the appropriately intoxicating backdrop for a sensitive, low-key look at aging and the price of pursuing one's dreams."^[9] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 82 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."^[10]

References

External links

• Eden at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website(French)