For years, Justice has been recording their shows in an attempt to produce a live film, but with each attempt, they found that the audience’s ceaseless enthusiasm for their music distracts from the cinematic experience they’ve been trying to create. It’s a bit of a letdown if the viewer is expecting more, but once this arresting feature gets rolling, its creative power beings to fall into place.īoth Gaspard and Xavier explain that the choice to remove the crowd from the equation was a decision they landed on after much trial and error.

The film lives in the abstract and excludes the cult personalities that live behind the music. With no real narrative or elements of humanity, we lose a bit of what makes Justice… well, Justice. He goes on to refer to it as “a contemplative tableau more than the narration of a concert.”

“At first I found it a bit frustrating because what I love about Justice’s shows is the public’s energy,” says Ed Banger Records’ head honcho Busy P in a behind-the-scenes special about the film. While the one-hour film is a recounting of a live show seen by millions of people around the world, it features no audience. Iris is the polar opposite, but radical in its own way. The film is packed with intimate footage of the band’s personal experiences on the road, capturing their extreme rockstar form and their crowd’s explosive energy firsthand. Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay of Justice made their first silver screen debut over a decade ago with A Cross The Universe – a gritty documentary directed by Romain Gavras that follows the duo through their 2008 North American tour.

With no theatrics and storyline, it is less of an opera and more of a concert film set in the void. Directed by André Chemetoff and Armand Beraud, it is a dignified adaptation of the band’s ‘Woman Worldwide’ live show that toured throughout 20. The new film Iris: A Space Opera by Justice, which opened in select theaters around the globe last week, is just that. Whether it’s something as traditional and esoteric as Philip Glass’ Akhnaten or groundbreaking as The Who’s rock saga Tommy, an “opera” makes one think of acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet.Īrmed with their uncompromising sound, aesthetic and vision, French electronic duo Justice have chosen to take the idea of an “opera” and spin it into something refreshing and bold.

Iris a space opera by justice