The Stool Pigeon music newspaper

“We are not aiming for an audience, we are just expressing ourselves,” says a resolute Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo - one half of French avant-garde house/electronica duo Daft Punk on their film project Electroma, due soon on DVD.

It would be incredibly naïve to think that such an experimental, and sometimes just mental, outfit such as Daft Punk would be directing the latest feel-good-Hollywood-summer-rom-com-blockbuster-for-all-the-family. As you could imagine, they have reverted to their usual, if incredibly unusual, type. This is not the first time Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have ventured into the world of film. They penned the Japanese anime flick Interstella 5555 that turned out to be a, quite frankly, fucking odd tale of the abduction and subsequent rescue of some weird blue, human-esque creatures to tunes of their 2001 album, Discovery. However, despite retaining the familiar robotic heads that have become synonymous with their videos, they have opted curiously not to play to their strengths and do not feature on the soundtrack. “We wanted to give something in this film that was not music,” says Guy-Manuel. “It was quite a challenging thing to do but we were happy to share this music that we love with the audience.”

Electroma is the story of the two Daft Punk robots on a quest to become human. After travelling through the desert, they come across a town populated by robots living a suburban existence. They soon find themselves at the local hi-tech lab to be fitted with some quite frankly terrifying ‘human’ latex masks that look like the bastard-sons of Judith Chalmers and the Cabbage Patch Kids. They smugly show off the masks on a stroll around town but they are soon ostracised and chased by the none-too-friendly locals as their new faces melt in the blazing sun. With no choice but to trek off into the desert, the protagonists ultimately commit suicide. Not exactly your run-of the-mill popcorn fodder.

“The essential theme of the film, to be really broad, is this reflection of technology and humanity and how they react,” explains Thomas.

“The robots are a good metaphor for the integration of technology and life because they are almost a hybrid of the two - even though they are not human at all. Robots are really sexy, stylish and exciting but on the other hand, they are not characters, they are just a machine, they are cold and completely fake.”

“What is more interesting for us is the audience. What can they imprint in the characters? To what extent are people moved by the robots. What instinctive drive does the audience as humans have to imprint some motivation onto those machines?”

With such scenes the seven-minute intro featuring the robots driving through the desert, it could be argued that Electroma’s obscurity is something that will put off all but only hardcore fans.

“It is obscure in terms of the mainstream cinema and music industry,” argues Bangalter. “But if you look at it from an artistic point of view, it’s not as obscure as some other artists or photographers. It is on a limited release as it doesn’t fit with the regular channels of mainstream culture. It’s not an intellectual film; it’s more a psychedelic, sensual experience.”

“We would say we are making music for the eyes that people could experience without really thinking. It’s not at all intelligent. It only triggers some kind of physical and emotional reaction.”

So, as the viewer, it is up to you to find your own meaning behind this strange experiment in automatronic psychedelia. With no dialogue whatsoever, you don’t really have much choice but perhaps those with a pre-disposition to the stinky green herb may want to sit back, skin-up and soak up the ambience of this strange little tale. It may not be to the average man on the street’s tastes but credit has to be given to Bangalter and de Homem-Christo for such a bold celluloid innovation - even if it will be lost on most.