VIDEO > "Rendezvous" by Claude Lelouch

Faithful readers of this blog will know that I love driving, especially really fast in the streets of Paris.

Apparently I am not the only one. My fellow francophiles, Stine and Esben, just mailed me this amazing, and very controversial video by filmmaker Claude Lelouch, filming a friend driving through Paris like a complete and utter maniac.

On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit. The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH in some stretches. The footage reveals him running real red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up real one-way streets. Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and the film went underground until a DVD release a few years ago.

The video is a fantastic racing voyage through the streets of central Paris. Remember to watch the entire video, you will love the ending. I did, anyway.

Watch the video here.

Blogging from the Salons of Charles de Gaulle

Okay, the plane is delayed. Probably due to the massive rain showers, that just hit Paris tonight.

Drove by Crillon on the way out there. Had a club and a coke. I was dizzy, when I left the bar (a week of driving in Paris like a maniac can do that to you), and I stumbled into a beautiful couple just outside the rotating doors. Extremely clumsy, and very unusual for Mr. Cool here, I managed to hit them both, awkwardly and like an idiot turist.

When I looked up it was Roger Federer and his blonde girlfriend. He looked at me like I was some sort of stalker and that it was on purpose. I have so much respect for the man I just nodded, and mumbled 'pardon'.

They were escorted into the limo minibus by a doorman holding an umbrella above them.

I walked to my car, parked like a rock star outside the five star hotel, getting really wet.

Turned up for SKYROCK RADIO, fired up the 2.0 turbo diesel engine and speeded North.

TOMORROW: How I learned to love french rap/hip hop and putting together the Bongorama Paris Vol. 1 CD.

Paris in the spring: The DaVinci Code

Jesus apparently knocked up Maria Magdalena. Or so THE DAVINCI CODE would like to have us believe. The eagerly-awaited movie opened here in France, including the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, a week before the rest of the world.

The Publicis Cinema is screening the V.O. (Version Originale, Sous-titrée en francais) and watching the movie yesterday I noticed three things:

1.
The movie is really good, but it is very long.
2.
Tom Hanks is actually really good, but his hair is very long.
3.
The Sony and Sony-Ericsson product placements* are relatively subtle, considering it is a Columbia Pictures [a Sony company, ed.] release.

Forget all the religious mumbo jumbo. This is a murder mystery first. And a good one at that. (I hate Flash intros on web sites, ignorant people on any sites and special effects in movies, and it didn't work for me this time either).

The casting is excellent. At first, Tom Hanks, seems totally out of place, but his very under-acted performance works very well once you’ve thrown out your imaginary Robert Langdon. It seems the entire population of planet Earth has created an image of Robert Langdon in their head, so it is a very ungrateful position Tom Hanks has taken upon him. The multi-Oscar winner is one of the few actors, who can handle the role. George Clooney would be another candidate, but he is probably too handsome. Another bid for the leading man could be Christian Bale, but he is probably too young.

Ron Howard directed, Brian Glazer produced (along with the author, Dan Brown) and composer Hans Zimmer wrote the soundtrack.

AUTHENTICITY, INDEED I watched DER UNTERGANG in an underground cinema in Berlin. I cried when I entered the modern streets of Berlin. I watched THE DAVINCI CODE in an advertising agency-run movie theatre in Paris. I thought of nazi-occupied France, when I walked to my car parked near Triumph D’Arc.

William Blake

"If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise".

- William Blake 'Proverbs of Hell'

Paris Au Printemps: Traffic

I love driving in Paris. Everybody drives like myself. Like a complete maniac.

Driving in Paris is not about getting from A to B. It is about getting from A to B as fast as possible.

I rented a really fast 2.0 TDI at CDG and I drive really, really fast. The diesel engine roars, when I rev up at every intersection. Everyday I try to go even faster through different routes through the City. I am flying through street corners and speeding like a race car down the Avenues of Paris. However, the local drivers seem to find little 'holes' in the traffic I didn't see, and are able to sneak any car, not only the Smart ones, in between the anarchic rows of buzzing cars. And remember, that we are constantly attacked and surrounded by motorcycles and scooters, humming around you like a pack of killer mega-bees. Having driven around for a week now, I do however manage to close most of the holes and myself sneak into directions and lanes of traffic, a regular car driver would not have anticipated. Here, in Paris, we are all in sync with our inner Alain Prost.

My girlfriend doesn't want to drive with me anymore. I don't care. I want to be the fastest. I want to be faster!

I have gasoline in my blood. Jesus' blood never failed me yet.

[Tomorrow: Report from "The DaVinci Code" premiere in Paris.]