Seemingly every generation’s zeitgeist-capturing musical movement has its correlating cinematic interpretation (usually about an arty director with some experience in said movement). Whit Stillman‘s “The Last Days of Disco” attempted to be that film for the early ’80s and the waning days of the ’70s musical fad of choice; Michael Winterbottom‘s “24 Hour Party People” captured the Factory records heyday of the late ’80s; and now, behold, Mia Hansen-Love is bringing us “Eden,” a chronicle of the electronic music boom of the ’90s.
French director Hansen-Love is already at work in New York on early scenes, though the shoot proper begins this November. The story starts, it seems, in France, and expands to the rest of the world as garage spreads from dingy cellars to massive clubs, carried in this version of the tale on the shoulders of Paul, a French DJ who encounters enormous success…and all the troubles that come with it.
Hansen-Love, who won the Cannes Un Certain Regard prize in 2009 for “The Father Of My Children,” is also bringing on board an international cast, chief among them Greta Gerwig, long-time art-house it-girl and celebrated lead of “Frances Ha,” a movie where she got to dance her heart out (although in an entirely different way). Also on the sweaty floor will be Brady Corbet, of “Mysterious Skin,” “Funny Games” and this year’s oddly overlooked “Simon Killer.” They will join an international cast that also includes Belgian actress Pauline Etienne, Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani and French actors Vincent Lacoste and Vincent Macaigne.
According to the report, the film looks to bring “the charm and dangers of an existence devoted to music and partying, the disintegration of an inherently ephemeral world,” which, for those of you who don’t know, is French for “lots and lots of ecstasy.” Hansen-Love co-wrote the script with her brother Sven, who was deejaying in France in the ’90s, back when Daft Punk were still human (after all). Get your glow sticks ready now.