Day for Night

Director:

Francois Truffaut

Release Year:

1973

Classification:

Length (mins):

114

Country:

France, Italy

Writer:

Francois Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, Suzanne Schiffman

Actors:

Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Francois Truffaut

Awards:

1974 - Oscar - Best Foreign Language Film, BAFTA - Best Direction

Screening Date:

14 Oct 2025

Categories:

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Trailer:

View Trailer

Summary:

A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.

Film Notes

Movies about movies usually don’t quite get things right. The film business comes out looking more romantic and glamorous (or more corrupt and decadent) than it really is, and none of the human feeling of a movie set is communicated. That is not the case with Francois Truffaut’s funny and touching film, “Day for Night,” which is not only the best movie ever made about the movies but is also a great entertainment.

A movie company, especially if it’s away from home on a location somewhere, is a family that’s been thrown into close and sometimes desperate contact; strangers become friends and even intimates in a few weeks, and in a few more weeks they’re scattered to the winds. The family is complicated by the insecurities and egos of the actors, and by the moviemaking process itself: We see the result, but we don’t see the hours and days spent on special effects, on stunts, on making it snow or making it rain or making an allegedly trained cat walk from A to B. “Day for Night” is about all of these aspects of moviemaking; about the technical problems, the boredom between takes (a movie set is one of the most boring places on earth most of the time), and about the romances and intrigues. It’s real; this is how a movie set really looks, feels, and smells. Truffaut’s story involves a movie company on location in Nice. They’re making a melodrama called “Meet Pamela,” of which we see enough to know it’s doomed at the box office. But good or bad, the movie must be made; Truffaut, who plays the director in his own film, says at one point: “When I begin a film, I want to make a great film. Halfway through, I just hope to finish the film.”

His cast includes a beautiful American actress (Jacqueline Bisset); an aging matinee idol (Jean-Pierre Aumont), and his former mistress, also past her prime (Valentina Cortese); the young, lovestruck male lead (Jean-Pierre Leaud), and the entire crew of script girls, camera operators, stunt men, and a henpecked production manager. (And if you have ever wondered what the key grip does in a movie, here’s your chance to find out.) Truffaut sets half a dozen stories in motion, and follows them all so effortlessly it’s almost as if we’re gossiping with him about his colleagues. The movie set is a microcosm: there is a pregnancy and a death; a love affair ended, another begun, and a third almost but not quite destroyed; and new careers to be nourished and old careers to be preserved.

Truffaut was always a master of quiet comedy, and there are fine touches like the aging actress fortifying herself with booze and blaming her lack of memory on her makeup girl. Then there’s the young male lead’s ill-fated love for Jacqueline Bisset; she is happily married to a doctor, but unwisely extends her sympathy to the youth, who repays her by very nearly destroying her marriage as well as himself. And all the time there is the movie to be made: Truffaut gives us a hilarious session with the “trained” cat, and shows us without making a point of it how snow is produced on a set, how stunt drivers survive car crashes, and how third-floor balconies can exist without buildings below them.

What we see on the screen is nothing at all like what happens on the set a truth the movie’s title reflects. (“Day for night” is the technical term for “night” scenes shot in daylight with a special filter. The movie’s original French title, “La Nuit Americaine,” is the French term for the same process–acknowledging their debt to Hollywood.)

The movie is just plain fun. Movie buffs will enjoy it like “Singin’ in the Rain” (that perfect musical about the birth of talkies), but you don’t have to be a movie buff to like it. Truffaut knows and loves the movies so much he’s infectious; one of “Day for Night’s” best scenes is a dream in which the adult director remembers himself, as a little boy, slinking down a darkened street to steal a still from “Citizen Kane” from in front of a theater. We know who the little boy grew up to be, and that explains everything to us about how he feels now.

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times September 7, 1973

What you thought about Day for Night

Film Responses

Excellent	Good	Average	Poor	Very Poor
22 (42%)	25 (47%)	4 (8%)	2 (4%)	0 (0%)
Total Number of Responses: 53 Film Score (0-5): 4.26

Collated Response Comments

114 members and guests attend this screening. We received 53 responses giving a film score of 4.26. This represents a 46% response rate. Thanks very much. All of your comments both from the website and paper slips are shown below.

“Most enjoyable. A master film-maker on top form”. "

“Most enjoyable. A master film-maker on top form”.

“Thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating insight into film making. Better than ‘good ‘ but not quite an ‘excellent‘ for me”.

“Such a wonderful concept. The trials of making a movie. The scene with the kitten and the breakfast tray was hilarious”.

“Truffaut is one of my favourite film-makers, especially with Leaud playing a main role, but not as effective as he was in Les Quatre-cents Coups. Thought that Truffaut's passion for cinema, was evident with some references to Welles, Hitchcock and Cocteau. A clever film about film making, with a refreshing richness after 50 years. Amusing with lots going on; especially about conflict, love, charm and life in cinema, as well as the cat sequence. Some strong moments: the opening tracking, Truffaut's speech about cinema and reality, Cotese's struggle with her lines. Truffaut shows himself as a director trying to make a film pretty much within his compass; decent moments of humanity, an aging, insecure actress, a driven "continuity girl" precise with her work enjoys sex with a prop boy, a crazy but hard-working crew – a nearly perfect film about an imperfect production. In black and white, "Day for Night" could be little more than farce yet colour enriches the circus atmosphere. Recalled the spirit of this film like Altman's Nashville. Wasn't too sure about the post-modern plot, but it's structured well. Very enjoyable to see it again”.

“'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players' and vice versa in this film. A familiar enough theme but seldom realised with the generosity, humanity and humour shown here. While there are the tantrums and betrayals of other stories of the movies, and the world within a world in which they're created, here they are viewed as inevitable and forgivable. Even the terminally self absorbed wrecking ball Alphonse is excused. This is a musing on all collaborative efforts and the desire to create; the number of people involved means the original vision is doomed from the start but something useful will appear eventually, sometimes better than the original idea (after a lifetime working in publishing, I have been through this arc repeatedly). Also, on the intense relationships that develop in the process. It may be showing its age a little in the pacing but it has the absolute ring of truth, the players are delightful but possibly the best is Truffaut himself in a warmly thoughtful, underplayed role, the opposite of the familiar Hollywood tyrant. I struggled not to actually applaud at the end of the credits”.

“Really enjoyed this film with good humour, acting and a fascinating insight into the making of movies. Another good choice. Thanks”.

“A somewhat inconsequential film - it just didn't seem to hold together. Lots of potential - but it just wasn't fulfilled. Disappointing”.

“Delightful backstory of the trial and tribulations of film making. Truffaut excellent director and actors keeping his cool under endless demands on him (reminds me of being a mum of three young children!)”

“I am with Godard on this one”. “Love Truffaut”. “Stands the test of time”.

“Lovley to see Jaquline Bissett and Francois Truffaut. Love for the film making and feel like watching Cinema Paradiso too”.

“It was very frantic! Lots going on all the time. I enjoyed the scene with the cat. It had its funny moments”.

“Very enjoyable. But found the sound very jangling”.

“The fun of movie making”.

“Ferociously entertaining and very funny. But the sound was so loud and frightfully distorted! Does it have to be so loud? Great film though and keep them coming please”.

“A joy from start to finish. Thank you for selecting this film”.

“Loved all of it”. “it was funny and a great description of film making”.

“Good fun and an insight into the complexities of film making”.

“Good evening’s entertainment”.

“Thoroughly enjoyed the film – a good evening”.

“I was somewhat disappointed that it wasn’t as amusing as I expected”.

“Funny, slick, well produced”.

“Great film. Everyone seemed to be having fun. Sound quality poor – too loud leading to distortions”.

“Enjoyed it”. “Très enjoyable”

“Entertaining viewing. Typical 70’s. Just like on a real film set. Nice to see no Botox!!!”

“Preferred the second half – however overall enjoyable”.

“What a lovely film! I’m sure its very close to real life making films. Totally loved how natural and inspired they all looked!!”

“Funny but rather silly”.

“Utter chaos. Fun trying to follow it through”.

“Vive le cinema Français!”