The meeting between his passion for cars and his obsession with punctuality led the French director to shoot a controversial short film in 1976 entitled ‘Cétait un rendez-vous’.
The French director is passionate about cars, a passion faithfully expressed in the famous film ten years earlier
‘A man and a woman’, in which a racing driver named Jean Louis (Jean Louis Trintignant), scarred by his wife’s suicide after nearly being killed in an accident at Le Mans, falls in love with Anne (Anouk Aimée), a young script or secretary who shoots , widow of a movie stuntman. And all this against the backdrop of Francis Lai’s unforgettable theme song.
The meeting between his passion for cars on the one hand and his obsession with punctuality on the other led Lelouch to record in 1976 under the title
‘Cétait un rendezvous’, a controversial short film Lelouch himself, when speaking of this short film, refers to his famous film from 1966. «I shot as Trintignant in ‘A Man and a Woman’, foot on the board, speedometer locked at 180 km/h, and taking all the risks ».
And even more so, since I’m not
at the Monte Carlo Rally but in the middle of Paris. Next to me, my main operator controlled the speed of the bumper-mounted camera.” Lelouch had been toying with the idea for years to translate the fear of time slipping away into images. And the idea became possible; “Nine minutes and thirty seconds of film , is what I had left unused after filming ‘Si c’etait a refaire'”. He thought it would be a shame to lose that three hundred meters of virgin tape.
And he took advantage of it to carry out his project for a film in a single shot sequence, in which the camera would cross Paris at great speed; “the vision of a man driving like crazy
Why are you late for an appointment?». Much has already been said about this short film. Dangerous message or performance from a controversial director, the reactions are mixed and found; Some appreciate the originality of the idea, and on the contrary, others see only the crazy and deadly side. “We systematically skip all traffic lights. The streets and avenues go by with frightening speed. At that point I tell myself that the spectators will cling to their seats and crush an imaginary brake pedal.
Because what I’m making is a movie.” Five hundred and seventy seconds, not one more, is the time you plan to complete the tour
from the Porte Dauphiné to the Place du Tertre, in Montmartre, a few meters from the Basilica Sacre-Coeur. But there are two technical issues that worry you. The first, of a cinematic nature, consisted of matching the car’s route to the action of the last ten seconds when Gunilla, her partner at the time and mother of her daughter Sarah, has to move to the car that stops in front of her. hair.
The second problem that arises is that of risk. Lelouch initially tries to find out through his assistant Elie Chouraqui
what permissions do I need to shoot. And he quickly realizes that for such a project, practically all of Paris would have to be blocked. He studies with a ‘cascadeur’, with a specialist, the possibilities of an accident and plans his work; «The risk was reduced by filming in the month of August, at 5:30 am. At that time, the circulation is practically non-existent. However, I was not allowed to block the streets leading onto the route.
A vehicle may appear in front of the protagonist’s car at any time. If this happened, the driver had to react within a quarter of a second. The most dangerous part of the route was the passage through the shutters of the Louvre, with no view at the exit. If another car appeared in front of my hood at that moment, the collision would be irreparable. To avoid it, I placed my assistant,
Elie Chouraqui, in that strategic place. Thanks to his ‘walkie-talkie’ he warned me of danger. Start the tour through the streets of Paris. The car finds eighteen red lights. It is expected that if a car or pedestrian appears, filming will stop, but if not, it will not stop… Accelerate on Avenida Foch, between 150 and 180 km/h. Climb the Champs Elysées at 140, with a peak of 160 km/h at the height of
Franklin Roosevelt. The place La Concorde reaches 150 km/h and via the major avenues it approaches 200 km/h. He arrives at the Louvre, the most critical point: the driver receives no signal and passes between the narrow arches at 80 km/h.
The rest of the route is easy to do. The engine noise can be heard
the Place du Tertre, and when the car stops and the man gets out, Gunilla enters the camera field with perfect timing. There’s no movie left… Fifteen minutes later, a chill runs through Lelouch’s body when he meets his assistant and sees him manipulating his transmitter. -What is happening? –
Is this nonsense, that I haven’t been able to get it to work, Chouraki replies, pointing to the device. All these details will become known thirty years later, from the mouth of Lelouch himself. On the contrary, at the time it was rumors that dominated the scene surrounding this controversial short film. It was alleged that it was filmed by a French Formula 1 driver, behind the wheel of a street Ferrari. However, Lelouch has clarified that for the filming itself he was behind the wheel of his 285 CV Mercedes 450 SEL, with a front-facing camera, and the sound was then incorporated into the tape, so that was different from the original.
Lelouch’s choice was not random. In the spring of 1975, Mercedes-Benz presented its new top model of the 116 series, the 450 SEL 6.9, with 286 hp. Under the large bonnet, the V8 from the legendary Mercedes-Benz 600 (model series W 100) was housed, coupled to a three-speed automatic transmission.
However, with the same displacement, the bore of the cylinders was increased from 103 to 107 millimetres.
Thus, a displacement of 6,834 cc was obtained in the 450 SEL 6.9 making this 1,935-pound sedan one of the fastest vehicles of the time, few sports cars could even surpass it. It accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.4 seconds and, according to official data, had a top speed of 225 km/h, a value that was frequently exceeded during tests by the specialized press, even motoring journalists. Sport has timed it at 234km/h… Its power and torque (over 500Nm) meant that when stepping hard on clearance, despite wearing self-braking gear and shod with 215/70 VR 14 tyres, it was considered wide at the time, the rear end would lose grip even on dry pavement.
But aside from the benefits,
Lelouch chose this model because of its beautiful suspensions, which were an important advantage when it came to achieving the necessary stability for shooting images. In fact, Mercedes-Benz had taken a completely new approach to suspension with this model. Developed from the air suspension of the 300 SEL 6.3, the 450 SEL 6.9 was equipped with a hydropneumatic variant, including a self-levelling system that kept the car’s height constant in all conditions.
While the 600 and 300 SEL 6.3 ran on air, the 6.9 has an integral hydropneumatic system, with a small pressure pump driven directly by one of the engine’s camshafts. Compared to Citroën’s hydropneumatic suspension, damping and level correction were faster. The efficiency achieved
an extraordinary level both on cobblestones at low speed and speed bumps.
As Bernard Carat described it in 1976 in the French magazine Auto-Journal: «Racquet blows (Les coups de raquette, the sudden vibration characteristic of
the suspension of the Citroën DS when passing a speed bump) are completely unknown and yet the passengers do not have the impression that they are driving too smoothly,” he concludes. for exceptional handling and comfort.The proverbial and almost unattainable filtration quality of Mercedes suspensions, powered by hydropneumatics, made it the best sedan in the world.
Comfort elements, such as the air conditioning, thermal insulating glass, heated rear window, central locking, cruise control, electric windows, headlight washers, velvet upholstery and retractable seat belts that are molded in both the front and rear
part of the standard equipment aboard the 450 SEL 6.9. Of course, optional extras were also available, such as an electric sliding roof (€ 987.90) and the exclusive Becker AT 160 S car phone (€ 13,542). A total of 7,380 of the 450 SEL 6.9 vehicles were produced in Sindelfingen between 1975 and 1980. the basic variant of this series, the 280 S, cost DM 28,848 and the model series W 115 Mercedes-Benz 200 was available in 1976 for DM 18,381.
In the presentation to the press of this mighty sedan, the journalist
from the Swiss magazine “Automobil Revue” he would write: “It is gratifying that precisely at this time (the oil crisis had broken out in 1973) a car appears that offers the enthusiast the most driving pleasure: and at any speed. The 6.9 is a testament not only to the creators’ optimism for the future, but also to their courage to stand up for their beliefs.” The British magazine “Motor” in turn noted: “There is only one word to sum it all up: fantastic!” And the German “Auto Motor und Sport” when it publishes its test in 1975, headlines: “The best car in the world”, and subtitles: “The 450 SEL 6.9 sets new standards in the upper class”. It was also a model that chosen for personal use by many Formula 1 drivers of the time.
However, the reviews for Lelouch were not so positive. The film’s cross-border nature, and to many its rudeness, meant that it was met with strong protests in some places where it was shown; ‘C’était un rendezvous’
has always sparked controversy, but it also shows everything that is loved in the cinema, says Lelouch who adds; how I like cinema more than law… I knew it was a gimmicky work. I told myself, with all modesty, that I had the opportunity to make one of the most beautiful shots in the history of cinema.
Ten minute shots are very rare due to the limited roll length capacity in the camera.
even hitchcock in ‘La soga’ he anticipated his film changes. Lelouch’s short film is considered a masterpiece in its outcome, but that the end does not justify the means is a principle that fully applies to this work, provocative and outrageous at the time, but absolutely unacceptable today. whether a pedestrian has appeared on the other side of the Louvre gates?
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
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