Institute History
Description
Parisian writer/director Mia Hansen-Løve’s 2009 feature, Father of My Children, won a Special Jury prize at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. Her highly acclaimed follow-up, Goodbye First Love, delighted festival audiences around the world. This latest effort immersed Toronto International Film Festival audiences in the world of house-music culture.
A sprawling yet nuanced drama that plays out over two decades, Eden follows the fiction-based-in-fact life of Paul Vallée, who steps into the early-'90s beginnings of the French house scene as an aspiring rave DJ. He and his friend, Stan, start a garage duo called Cheers, while acquaintances Thomas and Guy-Man form Daft Punk. As their club performances become more popular in Paris, they travel to New York and Chicago, extending the “French touch” style of house music. All parties must come to an end, however, as the times change, and life gets in the way.
Inspired by the real-life experiences of her brother, Sven, who co-wrote the screenplay, Hansen-Løve nimbly captures an era from infancy to maturation, making Eden feel as close as you can to having lived it yourself. —A.M.