Les Films d’un Jour, 2009, France, Francaise, English
Prélude au sommeil (Prelude to sleep) is a documentary film catching the spirit of Jean-Jacques Perrey, an eclectic electronic music pioneer who began his impressive career in the fifties. The film reconstructs the trajectory of a free spirit who flew to the USA with his early Ondioline electronic instrument (sponsored by Edith Piaf and Jean Cocteau). Perrey is often briefly interviewed, but the documentary is also letting him speak through his colleagues and friends. His approach is light-hearted and funny, yet technically innovative and extremely accurate. And he’s an artist who possesses, as Badalamenti notes in his interview, a strong “young exuberance”, while simultaneously having an endless curiosity for research. He can be considered a hero more than a myth for different contemporary communities of electronic musicians, as is largely acknowledged through different tributes and collaborations. And this film, named after his first album, also describes Perrey’s research into music as a means to cure insomnia. Directed by Gilles Weinzaepflen, the film features Gershon Kingsley (half of the Perrey-Kingsley duo and author of the world famous Moog anthem “Popcorn”), Angelo Badalamenti (David Lynch’s buddy soundtracker), Michel Gondry (the cult music video maker), Air (the famous French pop group), Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe and Joel Chadabe (another pioneer in interactive music systems).