FRANCE: French duo Daft Punk speak about their new film 'Electroma' which shows two robots on their quest to become human

Record ID: 763673

  • Title: FRANCE: French duo Daft Punk speak about their new film 'Electroma' which shows two robots on their quest to become human
  • Date: 25th May 2006
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 22, 2006) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) THOMAS BANGALTER, DAFT PUNK, SAYING (SHOT FROM BEHIND) "It is not really an intellectual film. It's a very physical experience and a sensual and visual experience. The theme, maybe, was the paradox of nature versus technology and the way that today the technology is extremely evolved. It is at the same time the best thing that there is today, and the worse thing that there is today. So we really wanted to put that in contrast in a very primal way. I think the other thing that is really not the theme but is what interested us is to experiment with the film medium in its most simple state, of really... in a very minimal way, the way we did it with music when we started to make music. We were just experimenting with sounds, and the effect that the sound can generate a physical experience or an emotional experience. That's really what drew us here with this idea of a story of a film without actors, without faces, without eyes, without expressions, without dialogue and somehow where can an emotion happens, or a story happens in what could just be a still life or remain a still life." GUY-MANUEL DE HOMEM-CHRISTO, DAFT PUNK, SITTING STILL (SHOT FROM BEHIND) (SOUNDBITE) (English) THOMAS BANGALTER, DAFT PUNK, ASKED WHY THEY USED ROBOTS AND NOT HUMAN ACTORS, SAYING (SHOT FROM BEHIND): "I think it's a metaphor to explain how obviously technology could evolve and end up being so close to humans but also look at the way the society is and what is the level of automation in the world we already live in, you know. And so after every image, the most influences, the most obvious influences of this films is surrealism. It is just dream-like images like that."
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVACLI8TOR36MD24IAS99OJADTLH
  • Story Text: 'Electroma' opens with two robots driving a car though the dry landscape of a canyon in Southern California, a landscape evoking Vincent Gallo's 'Brown Bunny'. In a world free of human beings, the car's registration plate humorously reads 'human'.
    The pair arrives in a small American town populated by robots dressed and behaving like humans. Woman are walking with babies in pushchairs, a wedding is being celebrated, men in suits are chatting in front of the High Court.
    French duo Daft Punk -- two former school friends, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo -- say they got inspired by films from Spanish surrealist film director Luis Bunuel and directors from the French new wave, like Jean Luc Godard.
    "It is not really an intellectual film. It's a very physical experience and a sensual and visual experience. The theme, maybe, was the paradox of nature versus technology and the way that today the technology is extremely evolved. It is at the same time the best thing that there is today, and the worse thing that there is today," Thomas Bangalter described, his face hidden from the camera.
    In their video clips and on stage, Daft Punk have used robot's masks to hide their face.
    "I think it's a metaphor to explain how obviously technology could evolve and end up being so close to humans but also look at the way the society is and what is the level of automation in the world we already live in, you know. And so after every image, the most influences, the most obvious influences of this films is surrealism. It is just dream-like images like that," he said.
    The two robots enter a building in the shape of a spaceship to undergo what could be described as plastic surgery. They come out wearing a mask looking like a human face, albeit a ridiculous one quickly melting under the sun. The local community will not accept their difference, and soon the two have to flee the town.
    For Daft Punk, creating a piece of music or a film is a similar experience.
    "It is images instead of music but the (creative) process is the same of selecting and understanding what you want to convey, to share and being spontaneous enough to do it, and in a very instinctive way for us. So it was a very similar process but though with a different set of tools and a different form of expression," said Bangalter.
    Daft Punk composed part of the hypnotic soundtrack, but also used some classical music -- including Allegri's 'Miserere'.
    Daft Punk wrote and directed 'Electroma'. Their previous movie, 'Interstella 555', was directed by Leiji Matsumoto and Kazuhisa Takenochi from Japan. Bangalter was also the composer of the soundtrack of 'Irreversible', a film from French director Gaspar Noe.
    Later in the year, Daft Punk will start a world tour. They said they will also work on further musical and film projects.
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