Formula 1, Monaco, Ferrari, supercars, and Charles Leclerc. It all just sounds right, doesn't it? This small principality on the French Riviera hosted many of the world's wealthy, privileged, and pomp. Equally, when you have such an acquired taste, anything less may appear unseemly. As with fine cuisine, only the best of cars occupy Monaco's streets, tasteful and refined. Motorsports is no stranger here, having hosted the Formula One Grand Prix on its city streets since 1929, with its inhabitants being no stranger to a V12's howl than a breeze.
It seems that Ferrari has decided to descend onto Monaco once more, even as physical F1 seasons have been all but cancelled since the Covid-19 pandemic struck. They intend to put horsepower down on public roads, but not for racing this time around. No, they're doing it for entertainment, as the Prancing Horse mounts a camera to remake a cult icon in filmography, and one that has a special place in every car enthusiasts' hearts.
From Lights, To Riches.
Credits to: CarPixel, and NetCarShow | The new Ferrari SF90 Stradale, in all its glory.
1,000 miles to the north-west of Monaco lies the City of Lights - Paris. Here in 1976, a film called "C'était un rendez-vous", or "It Was a Date" was shot, and it was as unique and ground-breaking for cinematography as '1917' did recently. It was a sleepy Sunday morning, just as the sun had barely risen, and Parisians had but awaken from their slumber. Suddenly, as they crawled into the kitchen for a cup of coffee, and buttering a lukewarm croissant, their windows shook with the bellow of an engine and tyres screeching.
Not a high-speed pursuit, or someone going to work on a holiday. A movie was being shot, one unsanctioned and made without the knowledge of anyone else at the time. There was no plot, no heroes or heroines, nor where there any cliff-hangers and plot-twists, or even any dialogue. The whole premise of the movie was to get from one end of Paris to the next as quickly as possible, with the camera mounted on the front of the car, below the bumper. Only two people along the route knew it was going to happen, yet both of their radios never worked.
Credits to: Claude Lelouche, director of Rendez-vous | Before reading on, have a watch of this original, and enjoy some automotive ASMR.
Things could've turned out deadly, but thankfully that never happened. The result, was 8-minutes of reckless bliss, fully uncut and filmed in just one take. Your experience as a viewer is completely dominated by the popular tourist attractions in downtown Paris, and the sound of a glorious engine working at its peak. It was - as expected - a controversial film. Who knew that it was illegal to drive at high speeds without supervision, darting around traffic and onto opposing lanes, hopping onto side-walks, and running through red-lights?
However, the controversy didn't just end there. In Rendez-vous, the car that was being used to film was a Mercedes-Benz 450SEL, and in summary, it's a comfortable, four-door executive saloon was mostly used to ferry around businessmen to and from their lunch meetings. It was chosen for its impeccable ride-quality, being able to glide over pot-holes, tram-lines, and the medieval cobbled streets of Paris. However, if you watch the film, it certainly doesn't sound like a Mercedes should.
Credits to: Petrolicious - Drivers’ Cinema, Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL, and Ferrari 275 GTB | Quite a stark difference from the car that was used, and the one which made it roar.
As with all movies, the sound plays a huge part in its experience. The bass-y thump of walkers in War of the Worlds, or the eerie silence in A Quiet Place, both are able to convey a connection with the viewer. This is especially so when cars are involved, and that sound makes all the difference at giving the viewer a sense of motion, the feeling that they're behind the wheel. Had Rendez-vouz been shot with the droning vroom of the 450's 6.9-litre V8, the movie wouldn't be half as exciting to watch.
Once the shots were taken, the Merc's engine note was dubbed with that from a Ferrari 275 GTB, owned by the director himself, Claude Lelouch. As the 275 was borne out of racing, it's suspension would've been to harsh to compensate for all those bumps, and the movie would've been for too shaky. On the other hand, the 450's lazy 3-speed automatic transmission was another giveaway, being one or two gears shorter than what was needed, and couldn't have been down-shifted so violently with heel-and-toe, as was heard in the film.
To Fix What's Not Broken.
Credits to: Ferrari | After weeks of teasing, it's finally here!
So, Rendez-vouz was patched together with footage from a smooth-riding Mercedes, but added with the thrilling sounds of the 275's 3.3-litre V12. Compared to the many homages made in honour of Rendez-vous over the decades, this time Ferrari will be doing it properly, and directed by Lelouch himself. It's also being done with permission this time, as evident with police offices lining up the sidewalks in the film, and with the Prince of Monaco, Albert II's grace, as seen later during an elbow-bumping session.
In summary, there's been quite a lot of negative feedback, and it might be well-deserved for the most part. Personally, I found that most of the film - which Ferrari names it, "Le Grand Rendez-Vous" - is more of a commercial for the new SF90 Stradale, and less of a tribute to the original Rendezvous. For what looks like a high-budget production, the overall camera-worksmanship is a lot less polished than the regular 2-minute advertisements that Ferrari doles out for their cars.
Credits to: Ferrari - YouTube | This commercial for the new Roma is so much better.
If we're looking at time-stamps, the only one I can recommend is 1:47 to 3:35, eschewing the need to watch through the enthusiastic music and awkward cinematic sequences. This brief moment is the uncut shot of the camera mounted ahead of the car, close to the tarmac, and there are no soundtracks or dubbing being played in the background - just like the original. It's just the sound of the SF90's hybrid-V8 engine working together in harmony, putting out a more muted tune compared to the namesake SF90 F1 cars, that echoes throughout the city, from glass panes to concrete walls.
This is the only part that I enjoyed. But even here, there is one big problem - there's too much stabilisation. Now, stable footage is important in videos to compensate for the shaky surfaces that holds the camera in place, ordinarily the tremble of nervous hands. But on a car going at speed, you want to have those shakes, and just feel like you're a part of the drive. In the original Rendez-vous, no gyros were apparently used, or at least in a more primitive form, allowing the director to fully trust the car's suspension.
Credits to: Ferrari Magazine | Behind the scenes. Not one, but two SF90s were deployed.
In this remake, the added image stabilisation makes this less 'alive' than it should be. I feel as though I've watched better videos of the sort from kids on YouTube, mounting GoPros on their Subarus. Combined with the other camera angles, cutting between one shot to the next makes this even less seamless than the original. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ferrari tried to remake Rendez-vous, and while I enjoyed some parts of it, nothing can beat the original.
The original had a simple premise, and it focused on this one part extensively. Even The Grand Tour made a far better homage in my opinion, with Jeremy Clarkson taking a Bugatti Chiron on a rendezvous with a Contessa on the other side of the lovely Italian city of Turin. Honestly, if you're looking for a fitting modern tribute to Rendez-vous, watch that one instead.
Those are my own thoughts on Ferrari's little film project. I wonder if I'm being a bit too harsh, drawing far too many parallels with the original film. Once you've watched it, do you feel that same way, or perhaps you'd prefer this over the old Rendez-vous?
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