IFF Boston Review: 'Eden' Takes Us To The Electronic Music Scene of the 90s
Wesley Emblidge ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Executive Editor
When we first meet aspiring DJ Paul (Félix de Givry) it’s 1992 and he’s barely 20, still in college, just getting into the scene and getting hooked on cocaine. Hansen-Løve wrote with her brother Sven, whose life the film is loosely based on, and follows Paul and other members of the scene (including Daft Punk, whose music is throughout the film) as their genre takes off and eventually becomes popularized as Paul loses his way. Also tracked are his various girlfriends (Greta Gerwig, Pauline Etienne and Golshifteh Farahani) and how their lives progress with and after him. Her films aren’t shot over 12 years like Boyhood but the characters age just as believably, even through simple things like changing facial hair and hairstyles.
Though at times Eden feels like maybe it casts its net too wide (a version that just focused on Paul would run much shorter) it’s hard to complain about luxuriating for a while in the environments Hansen-Løve conjures up with cinematographer Denis Lenoir and some really great selections of music from the period.
Overall Grade: B+
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