My first encounter with Espion lève-toi was in 1981 when I stumbled across the filming activities in the area of Zurich that I grew up in. Of course, I had to see the film when it was screened in the cinema the following year.
I spent the nineties unsuccessfully trying to find it on video. Finally, in 2002 the film was released on DVD (StudioCanal), and I was able to see it again for the first time in twenty years.
I found renewed interest in the film upon it’s Blu-ray release (Pidax) in 2019. It was then that I developed a fascination for the shooting locations of the movie and had the idea of a Then / Now website.
In the summer of 2020 I started visiting the locations and photographing them. This website followed in 2021.
Markus Arnold
Special thanks to the following people who have helped with my investigations: Christian Baltauss, Daniele Campigotto, Felix Aeppli, Nandor Nagy, Peter Arnold, Roni Ulmann, Susanne Keller, Thomas Wyss. Extra special thanks to John Rusterholz and Roland Metzger who assisted immensely with photography.
The filming spot that I came across in 1981.