One Morning in Paris in a Ferrari 275 GTB

Claude Lelouch had made enough money from his classic "Un Homme et une Femme" to buy himself a Ferrari, which he proceeded to drive with "enthusiasm" in his native Paris.

Whilst shooting another film, a new bit of equipment was being used - a gyro stabilised camera mount. Lelouch then came up with the idea for "C'était un Rendezvous". The camera used only had a ten minute film magazine - hence the mad dash to the steps of the Basilique du Sacre Couér in Montmatre.

On first showing, Lelouch was supposedly arrested. In his defence, he proclaimed he had taken all possible precautions. This included convincing a Formula One driver to helm the car (he refused to name him).

Subsequently the film went underground - occasionally shown in front of a Lelouch full-length feature on theatrical release. Outside of this, only poor quality pirate copies on VHS or a badly worn print were available. These would be played at car club meetings and slowly the film attained its mythical status with the arrival of the internet helping to spread the word.

What we do know is that there are no special effects or speeding up the film - Lelouch simply mounted the camera on the front of the car and shot it.

"I'd never seen anything like it, 9 minutes of adrenalin that simply leaves your jaw on the floor. To cut a long story short, we got in touch with the director, dusted down the 35mm negative, restored and re-mastered it for re-release - we've brought out all the details and colours and it looks stunning."
Richard Symons (documentary film maker)

'Rendezvous' has reached near mythic status.. mainly because of the sheer mystery surrounding it. The film is eight minutes and fifty seconds long. The "plot" is a bumper’s-eye view of an assault on the city streets of Paris, prior to a rendezvous with a girl on the steps of Sacré-Coeur. The soundtrack opens with a beating heart.

That’s the stuff we know. But who was the driver? How did he do it? Was it staged? And what type of car was driven? Since the film’s release, Lelouch has refused to discuss it, and, as a result, legends abound. One claims that Formula I driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise did the run in a Matra Le Mans sports prototype. Another says the driver was Jacques Laffite in a Ferrari 275GTB. And one says Lelouch himself was held responsible and arrested for dangerous driving, and screenings were stopped. Pirated prints would be shown from time to time, traded and viewed by enthusiasts like contraband. In 1992, Pyramid Film and Video released a murky tape priced at fifty bucks a pop, making it one of the most expensive videos around on a dollar-per-minute basis.

So, what are the answers? Lelouch’s production company, Les Films 13 in Paris, denied interview requests but did send us Lelouch’s writings on the making of the movie. His inspiration came when he found himself running late for an appointment and drove across Paris like a madman to be on time. The idea came to life in 1976, after Lelouch had finished directing Si c’était à refaire (If I Had to Do It All Over Again). At the end of the shoot, he had nine minutes or so of film left over and some time before he had to turn in his equipment. He had enough footage remaining for one take.

City officials rejected Lelouch’s application to close the necessary streets. Undaunted, he decided to do it without permission and take his chances, reducing the risks by shooting at 5:30 on a morning in August, the month when almost all of Paris shuts down for vacation. The most dangerous part of the route would be the ticket-window area at the Louvre, where there was zero visibility at the courtyard’s exit onto the Rue de Rivoli. An assistant, Elie Chouraqui, stood watch over the exit with a walkie-talkie.

The shoot went off as planned. With no signal from Chouraqui as he approached the exit of the Louvre’s courtyard, Lelouch floored it and roared through the gates. After the rendezvous, Lelouch headed back to collect Chouraqui and found him fiddling with the walkietalkie. "What’s up?" Lelouch asked. "It’s this piece of crap!" replied the assistant, pointing to the walkie-talkie. "It broke down at the start of the take!"

Lelouch has described the audience reaction when Rendezvous was first released: "People were exhilarated by the action but morally outraged by the method. I can’t say I blame them." Lelouch confessed to being the driver: "Of course. It was my film, and I was fully prepared to take the risks." He was also arrested for his exploits. "They took a look at the film, and the chief of police called me in;" Lelouch recounted. "He read me a list of all the offenses I’d committed. It was never-ending. When he finished, he gave me a black look and asked for my driver’s license. He contemplated it for a few moments, then gave it back with a large smile on his face. He said, `I promised I would take your license, but I didn’t say for how long.’ I was stupefied. It was a symbolic punishment. Then he added, `My children love your little film.’"

"It's an insane once in a lifetime experience that has never been repeated!"

Lelouch`s masterpiece "C'était un Rendezvous" has been restored and re-mastered to DVD..

and now can be enjoyed in high quality surround sound from the following retailers:

www.dvdsource.co.uk

www.blackwatchracing.com

distributed by Spirit Level Film

Regards Merv Skilton

*One Morning in Paris is Merv Skilton's very own translation of "C'était un Rendezvous"