Flat out down the Champs Elysees and grand boulevards of the French capital, dodging Peugeot 504 taxis and dithering 2CVs, the car we assume to be a Ferrari blasts through red lights, across squares and down narrow lanes, missing cars, and a garbage truck, by inches.
The film, C’était un Rendez-vous, was – no surprise – utterly irresponsible and completely illegal. But just try not watching it…
Jump forward five decades and the same director, Claude Lelouch, now in his 80s, has been recruited by Ferrari to make the (totally responsible, entirely legal) sequel… using Charles Leclerc in the 1000 horsepower hybrid Stradale and the closed-off early-morning streets of Monaco. It was filmed at dawn on 24 May, the day the circuit would have seen the grand prix were it not for the coronavirus pandemic.
Charles hits 150mph for his hot lap, with onlookers cheering him on from the balconies. Like his original Rendezvous, Lelouch’s latest film uses only the noise of the engine for its soundtrack. Will it sound as good as the V12 in the original film?