Day for night = La Nuit Americaine [DVD]

Some critics saw Francois Truffaut’s loving homage to filmmaking as a lightweight addition to the canon of his more crucial work. Nevertheless, “Day for night” went on to win Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards (1974) and is an enduring comedy about the vagaries of the movie business. Ferrand (played by Francois Truffaut) is a director working on his latest project, a melodrama called ‘Meet Pamela’, with an international cast. His leading man (Truffaut stalwart Jean-Pierre Leaud) is an insecure egoist conducting an obsessive affair with a free-spirited script-girl, given to irascible behaviour. The leading actress, recovering from a nervous breakdown, is American, and insecure about her talents. Additionally an aging actress, drinking heavily, continuously fluffs her lines, delaying a beleaguered production. Truffaut amuses by deftly expanding upon this set-up, exploring the difficulties of the filmmaking, including co-ordinating stunts, trying to induce animals to perform on cue, inconveniently pregnant cast members and nervous producers. Of greatest interest however is the behind-the-scenes romantic shenanigans that occur between the cast and crew, many of whom, despite the continuous frustrations, relay their love for the business of making movies. A light-hearted, whimsical and a wonderfully executed work. Cast includes Valentina Cortese, Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Jean Champion.