With 85mph through Paris!

“C’était un rendez-vous” is a 1976 French short film directed by Claude Lelouch, showing a high-speed drive through Paris. It was shot in a single take as an example of cinéma-vérité. The film runs for eight minutes which is nearly the maximum running time of a 1000 foot 35mm film magazine. The camera was mounted on the bumper of a Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9.

In “C’était un rendez-vous,” the car travels up to 85 mph through the streets of Paris. Lelouch used his own Mercedes for the filming and was widely criticized for the danger that the high-speed run created. Lelouch says he was prepared to stop filming in order to avoid hurting anyone. The sound track, however, is that of a Ferrari 275GTB. You can hear this car shifting into 5th gear while the Mercedes only has a three speed transmission.

The Ford Motor Company recently released a remake of “C’était un rendez-vous” in association with Claude Lelouch. It is called “Re-Rendez-vous.” The new film is 360 degree view using a Ford Mustang. It includes several scenes that had been cut from the original 1976 version. But it does show most of the original route of Lelouch’s 1976 version.