Day for Night
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Movie Reviews of Day for Night
Movie Review: Delicate and volatile relationships on the set -- Truffaut celebrates the triumph and struggle behind cinema
Summary: 4 Stars
Day for Night has not aged quite as well as some of Truffaut's other films, since it feels like an homage to a bygone era, but that is partly because it has influenced so many subsequent portrayals of what goes on behind the scenes during the making of a film, and it is partly because the filmmakers wanted to make an homage to an older style of filmmaking. Tom di Cillo's "Living in Oblivion" for example is the American indie version of Day for Night -- more cynical, even more funny, but not nearly so complex or profound. Day for Night almost wants to be a tragedy, and while the fact that the film gets finished in the end lends the film a comic dimension, it is clear that Truffaut knows life is never so neatly packaged. That is, in fact, the central theme of the film: that life is unpredictable and often tragic, but cinema makes magic of tragedy, and is worth the sacrifice that are made for it. The acting is very real and compelling -- especially when you recall that most of the actors play essentially two roles: their stage role and their character. The film itself seamlessly moves between scenes that are shot for the film within a film and scenes shot of the filming process and of the lives of the actors and crew. I did enjoy the fact that Truffaut included himself as the director of the film with the film that he was also directing; I also enjoyed a great deal the glimpse into what seems to be his process of working with actors and improvising in response to the demands of situations.
My only complaint is that there are a few fairly heavy-handed elements in the film, that belie Truffaut's otherwise light and subtle touch. At a few moments in the film we can hear what a character is thinking through voiceover -- and it seemed somewhat sporadic and inconsistent rather than the result of a coherent approach. When Truffaut (playing a director) falls asleep he hears voices (usually his own) and then dreams -- and the dreams are always of a little boy walking down the street in black and white. The dreams don't fit as clearly or as lightly into the film as similar sequences in Fellini's 8 1/2 (a film that this film is obviously comparing itself to at certain points). Though it seems that the boy in the dream must be the director, it wasn't clear to me what the dreams revealed other than: this is someone who, from an early age, was fascinated by film (and, possibly, felt guilty about "stealing" from Orson Welles). But I'm not sure why we needed three separate dream sequences (or any at all) to convey what seemed already clear -- at another moment the director opens a package of books and they are books about several of the great western directors including Orson Welles, Fellini, and Cocteau. Even that seemed a bit heavy handed -- was the point to make a comparison or to suggest a feeling of inadequacy?
On the whole, though, in spite of a few reservations that may be peculiar to me, this is an excellent film that belongs especially among the very great films about film: 8 1/2, Stardust Memories, Living in Oblivion, Beware of a Holy Whore, State and Main, and a few others. Highly recommended for lovers of film.
Movie Review: Truffaut's Love Letter to Cinema.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Francois Truffaut's funny and touching film, 'Day for Night,' is not only the best movie ever made about the movies, but is also a great entertainment"--Roger Ebert.
While French Director, François Truffaut (1932-1984) is best known for his "Antoine Doinel Cycle" (Adventures of Antoine Doinel (The 400 Blows / Antoine & Collette / Stolen Kisses / Bed & Board / Love on the Run), and for his films Jules and Jim and The Story of Adele H., his lesser gems from the '70s like Small Change (L'argent de poche) and Day for Night (La Nuit américaine), shine just as brilliantly. Day for Night is an Academy Award winning dramatic comedy about the filmmaking process. Stated differently, it is a movie about making movies. Set in the Victorine Studio in Nice, it tells the story of a director filming a doomed French melodrama entitled "Meet Pamela" (in which a British girl falls in love with her French husband's father). "When I begin a film, I want to make a great film," the director comments during production. "Halfway through, I just hope to finish the film." Jean-Pierre Aumont plays Alexandre, Valentina Cortese plays aging diva Séverine, Jean-Pierre Léaud plays love-struck heartthrob Alphonse, beautiful Jacqueline Bisset plays Julie Baker (an actress recovering from a nervous breakdown and a scandal). The film offers fans of Truffaut a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his challenges and obsessions as a filmmaker.
In two of my favorite scenes in the film, Ferrand (Truffaut) opens a package of books on the film directors he most admires, including Luis Buñuel, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Ingmar Bergman, Ernst Lubitsch, Alfred Hitchcock, Jean-Luc Godard, and Robert Bresson. In another scene, he reminisces about stealing a still from Citizen Kane from a theater as a boy. Film buffs will thrill at the many inside allusions to other films such as Renoir's The Rules of the Game and Marcel Ophüls's documentary The Sorrow and the Pity (cleverly used to describe a marriage). Day for Night will delight anyone who loves great movies.
G. Merritt
Movie Review: Funny, witty and charming; this'll make you want to make a movie...
Summary: 4 Stars
It may not be as sublimely rich and ultimately haunting as Federico Fellini's `8 ½' but truth be told `La Nuit Americaine' is an astonishing film that is as clever as it is honest in its depiction of the art of filmmaking.
Director Francois Truffaut plays Ferrand, the director of the production `May I Introduce Pamela?' which stars an American actress named Julie. The film follows Ferrand's struggles with his cast, which include the diva who can't remember her lines, Severine as well as the green and somewhat unconfident Alphonse. What is also shown is the behind the scenes action, the production crew working together (and against one another), the numerous problems that can arise for any number of reasons (the cat scene is my favorite in the film) as well as actors interactions with one another and how that can affect the finished product.
It is a different approach to the same subject as `8 ½', a film that tackled the creative side of filmmaking as apposed to the production side. Here Truffaut shows us what goes into taking what is on the printed page and transferring it onto the silver screen. It's a very large feat, and he delivers it rather well.
Some have stated that the film starts off slow, and sadly there are some slow spots throughout, but overall the film is redeemed by a witty script (which allows us to get to know each and every player intimately) as well as some superb performances. Standouts here include Valentina Cortese (who was nominated for an Oscar) as well as Jean-Pierre Leaud. Cortese is wonderful as Severine, displaying the true anxiousness from realizing you are past your prime yet refusing to acknowledge it. She is marvelously entertaining here.
Yes, it plays out like a realistic soap-opera, focus being on the word `realistic' so don't worry; this film feels nothing short of legit.
This is a very smart and very entertaining film that should be high on the lists of any lover of film, for it is an ode to the wonderful art of making that said film. This film should come with the tagline `please try at home' for this is a film that will make you appreciate film to a degree that you'll ache to try your hand at filmmaking. Truly Truffaut crafts a stunning portrait of his own career and gives us all something to talk about.
Movie Review: One Of Truffaut's Best
Summary: 4 Stars
Near the beginning of this film a character says real estate is the place to make money, not the movie business, but he continues to work in the movies because he loves it. That is what Francois Truffaut's "Day for Night" is all about. People who love movies making movies.
I saw this film years ago, but, it was the English dubbed version. I found the dubbing distracting and it had an effcet on my overall feeling of the film. When the movie became released on DVD it included the sub-titled version. I am reviewing this version. By seeing the film with sub-titles I now think it is one of Truffaut's best films only behind "400 Blows".
Maybe you're thinking I'm crazy. Can seeing a movie sub-titled really make that much of a difference? You have no idea. Just think about it. Now we can hear the original actors. We can hear the emotion they put in their lines. It is much different that hearing someone else plainly saying their lines. It is almost like seeing the film for the first time.
As we watch "Day for Night" we see what it takes to make a movie. All the problems that can occur, amd unfortunately for Truffaut, everything that can go wrong, does. People die, actors get pregnant, crew memembers fall in love, actors forget their lines, and film footage is destroyed. But as the saying goes, "the show must go on". And why does everyone keep going on? Because they love movies. It's one of the many reasons so many people have called this one of the greatest films about films in a class with "8 1\2", "Contempt" and to a lesser extent one of my favorites "Stardust Memories".
"Day for Night" won the Academy Award for "best foreign film"in 1972 and two years later was nominated for "best picture". Film critic Gene Siskel even hailed it as the best film of 1974.
Bottom-line: One of Francois Truffaut's best films. And it may as well be one of the greatest films about the movies.
Movie Review: Highly enjoyable comedy-fiction about making movies
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is a great treat to those who like film but know little about how they are made. You get what is supposed to be a behind-the-scenes look into how a master director manages a whole bunch of quirky, sometimes difficult, and endearing people.
On one level, it is really excellent drama. You have a psychologically fragile star (Bisset, who was never more beautiful), a man-child co-star (a youthful Leaud), and busy director (Truffaut himself). They perform within a wonderful cast, in particular N. Baye, but also many French character actors who make brilliant often hilarious characterizations. SOmehow, they get it all done, even when they maipulate and use sex and coercion to keep it going. This part of the film is wonderful and fast moving, a true treat of melodrama. The story within a story is very fun and there are multiple layers.
When I first saw this in high school, I was utterly enthralled with it. However, as I learned later, Truffaut's New Wave colleagues disdained this film as a completely inaccurate portrayal of what filmmaking was really about. Indeed, Godard's sarcastic and critical article about it alienated the two until death. While I certainly do not know what was so inaccurate about it, this made me pause as I watched it this time - and I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the first time.
Recommended. It is a great story, even if its accuracy is open to question.