C'était un rendez-vous

[XR6_661]

http://www.mediafire.com/?jfgxduhhbkw

C'était un rendez-vous (direct translation: "It Was a rendezvous") is a short film (under 10 minutes) made in 1976 by Claude Lelouch, showing a high speed drive through Paris.

When this film was first shown, Lelouch was arrested, and because of this, the footage has spent many years underground before it began to resurface on DVD a few years ago.

The film shows an eight-minute drive through Paris in the early hours of the morning (05:30hrs), accompanied by sounds of a high-reving engine, gear changes and squealing tires.
It starts in a tunnel of the Paris Périphérique at Porte Dauphine, with an onboard view from an unseen car exiting up on a ramp to Avenue Foch.
Well-known landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe, Opéra Garnier, and Place de la Concorde with its obelisk are passed, as well as the Champs-Élysées.
Pedestrians are passed, pigeons sitting on the streets are scattered, red lights are ignored, one-way streets are driven up the wrong way, centre lines are crossed, the car runs on a pavement to avoid a refuse lorry.
The car is never seen as the camera seems to be attached below the front bumper, judging from the relative positions of other cars, the visible headlight beam and the final shot when the car is parked in front of kerbstones on Montmartre, with the famous Cathedral Sacré Cœur behind, and out of shot.
Here, the driver gets out and embraces a young blonde woman as bells ring in the background, with the famous backdrop of Paris.

Production

Shot in a single take, it is an example of cinéma-vérité. The length of the film was limited by the short capacity of the reel, and filmed from a gyro-stabilised camera mounted on the bumper of a Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9.
This model, which could reach a top speed of 235 km/h (146 mph), was only available with a 3-speed automatic transmission.
Yet, one can hear gear changes up into 5th, as well as heel-and-toe down-shifting with a high-revving engine indicating speeds of well over 200 km/h.
Calculations made by several independent groups showed that the car never exceeded 140 km/h (85 mph), while another estimated that the car had peaked at 220 km/h (136.7 mph).
Lelouch himself claimed that the top speed achieved was over 200 km/h, somewhere between 230 km/h and 240 km/h.
It is suggested that the sound was dubbed with the noise of Lelouch's 275GTB, which has a corresponding number of gears and a similar engine note.

A making-of-the-rendezvous documentary indicates that Lelouch himself was the driver, that the car driven was the Mercedes, although the sound track is from a Ferrari.
One observer was posted close to the Louvre palace at a blind junction (archway) to assist the driver.

Interview with Claude Lelouch - translated from French

Under what circumstances did you "C'était un rendez-vous"?
I had just completed the filming of "If I had to start again." When a film ends, they shall be "rendered". So I asked my director of film footage which we had left. After inventory, we had a lot of falls between 3000 and 4000 meters in total. Many small rolls of 30 or 50 meters, but also a store of 300 meters, it was planned to make. Me, I wanted to make a short film that we placed into one of the film. For a long time I wanted to tell the story of a kind late for an appointment who commits many offenses to arrive on time. For me, being on time is an obsession. I am able to take incredible risks in order not to be late. I suggested to my operator Jacques Lefrançois, the idea of a sequence, the camera attached to any guy who go to Montmartre with a girl. As it is the stuffing, it crosses Paris at full speed, the grid stops and traffic lights.
In the film, the driver does it take the most direct route? If one wants to go to Paris Avenue Foch in Montmartre, it is not obliged to go through the windows of the Louvre ...
It will take the avenue de Wagram, of course. But Mous you doubt, I wanted at the same time offer some kind of story. My problem was to develop a plan that does not exceed ten minutes and which is interest at the very end with the girl who arrived on the steps.

I thought about the project. I asked Elie Chouraqui, my assistant at the time, to see what permits we should get. We soon realized that a plan like this need to stop all of Paris. It was not even bothered to ask us were not ready to implement a long ways to make a film short. I interviewed a stunt: "If I film very soon, what do I risk by roasting the red lights?". He explained that this was one of two things one. Arriving at a red light if there is nobody in the field of view, the risk is not very big move in force: it should at the same time, the same crazy tumbling at the same speed . And if someone in the field of view, it is still possible to slow. I left the premise that if I drive fast, and I see nothing is that there is nothing ... The only drawback was the major branches of the Louvre. They made me afraid because of their lack of visibility. For the filming, I asked Chouraqui to settle with a walkie-talkie and tell me when I arrived. If not told me anything, is that everything was fine. This is the only real precaution I've taken. For the beauty of the film, it was really that I do not stop. I stopped at a red light, and the film disappeared. There were nine in ten chance that we could not finish.

The camera is attached to the grille of the Mercedes. How the car was it equipped?
We hung the camera on the bumper of the car, a Mercedes 6.9-liter. On the inside we were three, attached as mules: myself driving Machino my head, my head trader and eventually change the diaphragm. At the last moment, he had set a slide means. The image should be at ground level to be even more spectacular. We are in the middle of August. Of course, we decided to sacrifice the movie and stop at the first danger. We drove really fast.

When you say "We drove fast you talk about how fast?
The rise of the Avenue Foch, between 150 and 180 km / h. The Champs-Élysées at 130 to 150 with a peak of 160 km / h at Franklin Roosevelt. Then to the Concorde, as it was clear I had to climb to 200 km / h. I have taken the place de la Concorde to 150. On the docks, I passed the 200 km / h. I took the wickets almost normally, ie at 80 or 90 km / h. As Chouraqui m'appelait not do, I went under the bottom branches, 100 km / h, because the channel is still quite narrow. I did not know that the talk of Chouraqui was down! I did know that the filming finished. Then I reassembled the Avenue de l'Opera. The intersection was blocked by a bus. To avoid delay, I had to spend on the other side of the road, cars coming in the opposite direction. OPI place, no problem! I then took the Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin to Clichy. I fell on the garbage truck that I could not exceed that amount on the sidewalk. I thought no longer have any problems. But arriving rue Lepic, I was blocked by a guy who delivered. I took the other side, palm toward the Palace, in destruction at the time. I Rocquencourt up the avenue, which I greatly lengthen. I did not know if I would keep enough film. So I made one-way streets to get to Montmartre in time ...

You've made sightings?
I made the journey once, slowly, to determine the passages. I had the equivalent of 9-10 minutes of film! I was still 15 seconds to cut off the motor car and take the girl in my arms. We agreed that when I honk it up two steps, and entering in the field. The plan-sequence could not be passed on those last seconds. I had told myself that if I could not take the first, I do not it again. By superstition. If the miracle had taken place, it would be ... And it took place. By forcing the same fate when, as we grilled dix-eight red lights.

How do you explain the reputation of this short film, which became a cult movie, this is very rare fear a short film ...
I showed the film everywhere. It has not always been well received given its lack of civic sense obvious, which I can not deny. But it also has its fana. When I showed the film for the first time in Los Angeles, where non-compliance with the rules of conduct is still heavily penalized, the triumph was mixed with incredible whistles. "It was an appointment" has always aroused controversy, but it also shows everything we love in the cinema. I like movies more than the law ... I knew I wanted a piece of bravery. I thought, in all modesty, there was the possibility of one of the most beautiful shots in film history. Plans-ten-minute sequences are rare, because of the narrowness of the camera store. Even Hitchcock in "Rope" anticipated changes in the film.

You have taken this principle of courses in various forms.
In "A man and a woman twenty years ago", but it was on a circuit, as in "Go Back". For "The Cat and Mouse", produced some time ago, we experienced it. But the shooting was concrete with cops before and behind. For "C'était un rendez-vous", we have made something of a hooligan.

What would you risk?
First, an accident! Then, the consequences of shooting without permission. Finally, a withdrawal of license. The film is beautiful in its risk-taking. If it was so successful and so ready for discussion, it is risky.

Like the shorts?
In some ways it is more difficult to make a short one long. Economically it is a nightmare. Artistically, it must be in the bulk. When you look at a short film, we know immediately if the signatory has a future in film. When I saw the short film by Xavier Giannoli for instance, I knew he was a true theater director.