- Pauline Etienne and Félix de Givry as Louise and Paul in Eden
Mia Hansen-Løve’s Eden, which opens today at the Music Box, is easily one of the best movies to premiere in Chicago this year. At once intimate and epic, the film mines universal observations about aging and the loss of innocence from a seemingly arcane subject—the two-decade rise and fall of a subgenre of French electronic music known as garage. It’s a rousing work—marked by consistent visual invention and an exalted, romantic tone—but also a very sad one. As I wrote the other day, it nearly renders palpable the feeling of time slipping away; I also wrote that it feels a bit like wandering through someone’s memories.
Félix de Givry: I remember reading the script and in that scene, for instance, the character isn’t referred to as Louise at first. She’s just described as “a girl” until someone mentions her name . . . only when you know her name is written as “Louise.”
Hansen-Løve: And she tries things [on the set] also.
Givry: They’re used to it.
Givry: Eh, I’m not a big fan of her. But anyway, the cameraman sometimes got stuck because the apartment was very small. We did a lot of takes for that scene.
Hansen-Løve: I’d say it’s loosely based on my life.
