Here's Everything We Learnt From Daft Punk Inspired Indie Film 'Eden'

Once upon a time in musical terms, the phrase 'French Touch' was most likely to refer to an attempted grope from Serge Gainsbourg, the roughish chanteur who once told Whitney Houston, live on air, that he'd like to fuck her. Yet this changed forever in the late '90s. Inspired by the imported sounds of US house and techno, a new wave of French DJs and producers began to emerge with a disco-fied re-versioning of these sounds to grip the attention of the world. It was the movement which launched search optimisation gold dust Daft Punk, alongside the essential output of Thomas Bangalter's collectible Roulé label, and gave a leg up to diverse talents including Etienne De Crecy, Pepe Braddock and DJ Gregory.

Released on July 24th, Eden – named after a fanzine from the era - is the French film which follows DJ duo Cheers as they attempt to make it against this backdrop of youthful innovation and excitement. Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, and based around the real life experiences of her brother, it's a film that feels like it's made by someone who's genuinely paid their dues on the dancefloor.

It's also notable for the fact that Daft Punk licensed a number of their tracks, including "Da Funk" and "One More Time", to be used in the soundtrack. The pre-robot producers are even characters in the movie, played by Vincent Macaigne (Thomas Bangalter) and Arnaud Azoulay (Guy-Man). So, taking their involvement as seal of approval enough, we went to the preview to discover exactly what Eden had to reveal about French clubbing in the 1990s.

THE TERM GARAGE IS CONFUSING

The film's heroes, Cheers, are driven by their love for garage. Not UK garage, but rather – as they explicitly reference it - the music popularised by Larry Levan's much eulogised Paradise Garage, the club that ruled New York from 1977 to 1987. As Bill Brewster remarks, however, in his exhaustive book Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, even this original definition was always slightly amorphous given the range of music played by Levan. What it means for the purpose of the film is the kind of soaring, life-affirming, soulful vocal-led 4/4 cuts played by Zanzibar resident Tony Humphries, who makes a cameo in the film.

FRENCH TOUCH INVOLVED LOADS OF NON-FRENCH MUSIC

Beyond Daft Punk, there's a burst of Cheek's recently repressed Brass Construction-sampling "Venus (Sunshine People)", but for the most part the authentically brilliant soundtrack to Eden is golden era US house and garage, with a few ravier numbers thrown in, like Joey Beltram "Energy Flash" and Liquid's "Sweet Harmony'. So it's a parade of still sparkling classics including Aly-Us' "Follow Me", MK's "The Mkappella", Frankie Knuckle's "Whistle Song", Joe Smooth's "Promised Land" and Masters At Work's "To Be In Love", featuring India (who also makes a cameo in the film). All told, if there's a film about clubbing with a better soundtrack, we can't think of it.

DAFT PUNK PSYCHOLOGY INSIGHT #1

Early in the film, a nervous Daft Punk test 'Da Funk' at a fancy dress house party that they're throwing (subtext: they've always hidden behind masks). The young Guy-Man and Thomas Bangalter smoke cigarettes nervously. They put the record on. Everyone loves it, unaware that this chain of events that will one day lead to Coachella, Kanye West, and a load more Random Access Memories.

MAKING MUSIC IS NOT AS FUN AS DANCING TO IT

Eden features one of the most realistic studio scenes committed to film; two guys sitting in a room auditioning kick drum samples, all of which sound pretty much the same. In contrast, every club scene features the entire crowd singing along to tracks like Kings of Tomorrow's "Finally", the nearest equivalent of which today was probably when everyone used to shout "duh duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh duh duh" to Julio Bashmore's "Au Seve".

PARIS WAS IN LOVE WITH THE COCO

Spoiler alert: taking cocaine may reduce you to DJing at weddings while your friends become Daft Punk.

NILE RODGERS IS IN IT (SORT OF)

It's not quite a full performance of "Lose Yourself to Dance", but Nile Rodgers gets an implied cameo when a close friend of Cheers announces they've just done their best interview ever with him – something interviewers are still saying today.

SHOWGIRLS C'EST MAGNIFIQUE

France helped spread the idea of film critical theory through the influential magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. So when one of the film's characters, Arnaud, declares Paul Verhoeven Showgirls a masterpiece (a theory, incidentally, shared by my film studies tutor at university), it's possibly not just the massive piss take his friends take it for.

DAFT PUNK PSYCHOLOGY INSIGHT #2

Despite becoming global stars during the course of the film, Daft Punk are stopped when they return to their old Parisian club haunt and told that they're not on the guest list. The doorman, thinking they're just a pair of regular punters, also informs them that their scruffy attire doesn't pass the dress code anyway. Despite taking it on the surface with typical nonchalance, is this the moment the duo vowed to start dressing like smart casual Cylons from Battlestar Galactica?

THINGS DIDN'T GUETTA ANY BETTER

As Cheers' audiences begin to dwindle, and the duo's relationship is strained by drugs, groupies and a record collection now reminding them of happier times, the villain of the piece appears. Complaining about numbers, a middle aged club promoter gives them some advice on how to pack the club; play a bit of David Guetta. This is possibly a dig at the fact that, back in 1994, even Guetta was making tunes with Chicago house legend turned Dalston man about town, Robert Owens.

FRENCH ACCENTS MAKE ANYTHING SOUND SEXY

Imagine if Daft Punk were Irish instead. Actually, no need.

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