Daft Punk Unchained, Unmasked

A new documentary, Daft Punk Unchained, tells the story of the mysterious French musicians behind those robot helmets. While Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo declined to be interviewed, director Herve Martin-Delpierre cornered their colleagues, collaborators and commentators. Several of these — Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West and Skrillex — are themselves iconic. But, according to Martin-Delpierre, it's old footage of Daft Punk that has moved audiences to tears. Daft Punk Unchained is a feelgood doco. "I'm proud about that," he says. "It's a really human story for me, this film."

"I think Coachella is very interesting for many reasons in the history of Daft Punk and in the history of electronic music and in the history of music, because it's the first time when an electronic band was considered like a rock band." 

Daft Punk Unchained is thorough in both tracing Daft Punk's origins and charting their musical and iconographic evolution. Impressively, Martin-Delpierre acknowledges the influence of Bangalter's father Daniel Vangarde, a French disco producer — something obscured early on. Daft Punk's faces are shown in old photographs. It might be called Daft Punk Unmasked. The later part of Daft Punk Unchained reveals how Daft Punk conquered the US, starting with 2006's headlining slot at Coachella. It ends with their winning five Grammys for Random Access Memories, including Album Of The Year — unprecedented for an electronic act. For Martin-Delpierre, who worked with writer Marina Rozenman, researching Daft Punk Unchained was revelatory. "In the film, Coachella is the climax," he says. "I think Coachella is very interesting for many reasons in the history of Daft Punk and in the history of electronic music and in the history of music, because it's the first time when an electronic band was considered like a rock band." He was intrigued to learn how Daft Punk fought for artistic "freedom" — and control. "It's a huge battle in this industry."

Daft Punk's former manager Pedro Winter (aka Busy P) provides invaluable insights. However, Martin-Delpierre got lucky scoring time with Daft Punk's most distinguished pals — Williams, for one, a notoriously wary interview subject. "It was not easy," Martin-Delpierre admits. Yet the stars appreciated that the film was about "freedom and music" — West's musings on this topic dazzlingly Yeezy. "Everybody said yes in the end."

Daft Punk Unchained is the first film about Daft Punk. Daft Punk labels allowed Martin-Delpierre to use their music and visuals. Still, Martin-Delpierre insists that it's "a really independent film". Daft Punk never solicited approval. "It was very clear at the beginning," he relates. "[I was told], You [do] your job, you make your creation, you make your film — you're free for that." He respects Daft Punk for being consistent on the artistic freedom thing. "To be honest, I was very surprised by that. I think, 'Ok, maybe it's a joke — maybe in six months everybody calls me and they say, Ok, we want to see the film…' [But] nope. Nothing."

Alas, Martin-Delpierre's doc doesn't contextualise Daft Punk in the tradition of house — the music's African-American 'teachers' increasingly marginalised in the EDM era. Nor were Daft Punk the first dance act to assume anonymity or generate a mythology. But, Martin-Delpierre counters, such analysis is the role of the music journalist, not a filmmaker identifying a "universal" angle. "For me, the universal part of the story is about these two guys. This is not a story about electronic music, it's not a story about a style of music — this is a story about two young guys with a desire to be artists."