6.30 pm | 19th of April| Alliance Française Auditorium
Free and open to all – Seating on first come first basis // Subtitled in English
Mia Hansen-Løve, France – 2014 – 2 hrs 11m – Drama, Music
The film is loosely based on Mia Hansen-Løve’s brother Sven’s life. In addition to being the inspiration behind the film he also co-wrote the script.
Paul Vallée is a young French student who enjoys going to raves. Eventually he partners with his friend Stan to form a DJ duo called Cheers around the same time as two of his other friends Guy-Man and Thomas form the DJ duo Daft Punk. In university he hopes to be a writer but as time goes on he abandons his thesis as his DJing career takes off.
In 2001 he and his friend Cyril are invited to New York to DJ at PS1 MoMA but Cyril refuses to go, having finally decided to commit to the graphic novel he had wanted to write. Paul’s time in New York is a success, but upon his return he learns that Cyril committed suicide shortly after finishing his graphic novel.
For a while Paul is successful however by 2006 his spending begins to catch up with him as his audience shrinks. He begins to turn to his mother to keep him financially afloat. As his life begins to crumble he runs into an old girlfriend, Louise. He hopes they can romantically reconnect but she informs Paul that she once had an abortion after becoming pregnant with his child. Paul has a nervous breakdown and confesses to his mother that he is addicted to cocaine and is deeply in debt.
By 2013 Paul has manage to rehabilitate his life and works for a vacuum repair company by day while attending a creative writing workshop by night. At one of the workshop sessions he talks to a young girl who asks him what he does. When he tells her he is a former DJ who specialized in garage music she admits that the only techno she listens to is Daft Punk.
Later Paul goes to a club where he sees Guy-Man and Thomas again.