With her fourth feature, the dreamy, low-key “Eden,” Mia Hansen-Løve continues to work in a different style that suits the subject at hand. Based on a screenplay she wrote with her brother, Sven Hansen-Løve, who is also a deejay, her film follows two decades in an unaging young deejay’s life in the Parisian electronic dance scene of the 1990s. Based partly on Sven’s experience, as well as those of Daft Punk, “Eden,” simmers in music and mood but the floppy-haired cipher of a male lead (Felix De Givry) is her least interesting protagonist yet, especially in light of the sharply drawn, nuanced figures of the middle-aged male protagonist of “Father of My Children” (2009) and the young girl center-screen in “Goodbye First Love” (2011).But could that be the point? Visually and aurally, it’s superb, with many moments of keen observation and fragrant subtleties of camera movement and editing. I’m looking forward to a second viewing to see if the mood might carry me away now that my expectations differ. Daft Punk contribute an amusing series of gags. With Pauline Etienne, Greta Gerwig. 131m. (Ray Pride)
“Eden” opens Friday June 26 at the Music Box. The trailer below offers a taste of the film’s drifting mood.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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