C’était un rendez-vous (1976), a short film by Claude Lelouch, takes us on a high-speed car ride through the streets of Paris. In 2023, it is Nadia Parfan who drives us through the streets of Kyiv.
It’s a Date is a “shot by shot” remake of C’était un rendez-vous (1976), insofar as both films are made in a single sequence shot of a car speeding through a deserted city. If Lelouch’s film is a form of vertiginous hyper-romanticism leaning towards death wish, Nadia Parfan’s film maintains that same ethos, but adds to it the urgency of the present time: the war in Ukraine. The driver that now speeds through a city in a state of siege is not only racing against the time of desire, he is also running away from the bombs. Hence the significant change of language in the title: “date” is both a “love date” and a “date on the calendar”. Lelouch’s timeless journey through postcard Paris has become a singular record of a moment, where, despite everything, there is still room for love. (Ricardo Vieira Lisboa)
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