C'etait un rendez-vous (English: It was a date) is a short film made in 1976 by Claude Lelouch, showing a nine-minute drive through Paris at 5:30 AM.
Despite (or due to) the limited availability of video tapes, it gained cult status over the years among motoring enthusiasts who admired the experience of speed and the reckless style of driving.
Due to the increasing popularity and the lack of original tapes, the film has recently been re-mastered from the 35 mm negative and released on DVD, as well as being published on the Internet.
This example of a cinéma vérité film was made in a single take with no editing, using a camera attached to the bumper of a car. The length of the film thus was limited by the capacity of the camera reel which lasted under 10 minutes.
[wiki]
23 Comments
gwaansays...Great post!
(this was published on the Sift before - so it may be a dupe or the original may have gone dead)
snaremopsays...Thanks - I'll check..
snaremopsays...Yep, other post was dead.
bamdrewsays...i've seen and read a lot about this excellent film; there is evidence to suggests this was actually a camera mounted to the director's Mercedes driving very fast, with the film slightly sped up in post and the audio heavily doctored.
snaremopsays...Yes, I heard about that as well. But wouldn't it take less effort and slightly more money to just do the real thing?
gwaansays...The video for Snow Patrol’s song “Open Your Eyes" is worth checking out. It is a direct copy of Lelouch's film - except that the driver is on a moped.
winkler1says...*promote
siftbotsays...Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Monday, June 4th, 2007 2:34pm PDT - promote requested by winkler1.
spoco2says...It would seem it's more than 'evidence to suggest'. Also from the wiki
Personally, I don't think much of the movie, as he stated that this was done for real on the streets... and as such put people at great risk of death.
If this had ended with the Mercedes slamming into a pedestrian or other car, would it be as popular?
schmawysays...*wheels
siftbotsays...Adding video to channels (Wheels) - requested by schmawy.
eric3579says...*dead
siftbotsays...This published video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by eric3579.
siftbotsays...rasch187 has fixed this video's dead embed code - no Power Points awarded because rasch187's points are already fully charged.
Barsepssays...*blocked
siftbotsays...This video has been flagged as having an embed that is Region Blocked to not function in certain geographical locations - declared blocked by Barseps.
Barsepssays...*dead
siftbotsays...This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by Barseps.
siftbotsays...Awarding oritteropo with one Power Point for fixing this video's dead embed code.
siftbotsays...The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by oritteropo.
oritteroposays...*related=http://videosift.com/video/Climb-Dance
Related in the sense of both being famous driving films, not really related to M. Lelouche or Paris.
siftbotsays...Climb Dance has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo.
siftbotsays...Live and Let Drive - retraces C'etait un Rendezvous has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo on that post.
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