INTERVIEW WITH Sven Hansen-Løve
So you’ve seen the filtered EDEN posters splashed all over the London Underground (I think they used either ‘Amaro’ or ‘Toaster’), and your noggin is perhaps wondering what’s the deal with this French film. I skyped Sven Hansen-Løve, EDEN co-writer, at 9am on the UK release day – bearing in mind that I never skype, and I never wake up before 9am. 9am?!
Before the time that Pharrell was up all night to get lucky, Daft Punk were young un-masqued Parisians changing the 90s with fellow friends. The film sees the rise of French House music in such an exhilarating way - you can rave without paying the entrance fee to Fabric and without a telling off from your mum.
Distributed by Metrodome Group and showing at the Ciné Lumière from today!
Me: What’s the idea behind EDEN?
Sven Hansen-Løve: Well, it was originally my sister’s idea [Mia Hansen-Løve]. We wanted to do a film about our generation and the electronic music scene in the 90s. We knew that music would be very important, almost a main character of the film. It was a challenge for my sister because it’s such a different style from her previous films [such as Goodbye First Love, 2011 or The Father of My Children, 2009]. She asked me to collaborate with her and we slowly started a new direction which was related to the youth – the choices you make in your youth which affect your life.
What was the most difficult part you encountered with the film?
There were many! Shooting the club scenes was very complicated, but on the other hand, it was a very good moment for us, it was very thrilling to film yet extremely technically difficult. Another part which was tough was the sound editing. But we found that the most difficult parts were actually the most interesting and exciting because it was a challenge at the time.
What would you say was the equivalent of Daft Punk in the UK? Was there an influence of UK electronic music in France?
Erm, well there were important UK bands such as The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers who were influential in France…and I remember a band called Underworld, yeah they were also important in the electronic and music scenes. Daft Punk had a goal though; they wanted to become mainstream so that anyone could enjoy their music. One thing I realised with my sister was that even children love Daft Punk which is very interesting. They have such a large scale audience!
The final question: if you could only listen to one Daft Punk song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Probably Veridis Quo – the one that we put in the film. I think it’s just so deep, beautiful and subtle. It’s one of their most melancholic songs, so probably that one!