A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.
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Title: Day for Night (1973)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Jacqueline Bisset | ... | Julie Baker | |
| Valentina Cortese | ... | Séverine | |
| Dani | ... | Liliane, la stagiaire scripte | |
| Alexandra Stewart | ... | Stacey | |
| Jean-Pierre Aumont | ... | Alexandre | |
 |
Jean Champion | ... | Bertrand, le producteur |
| Jean-Pierre Léaud | ... | Alphonse (as Jean-Pierre Leaud) | |
| François Truffaut | ... | Ferrand, le réalisateur | |
| Nike Arrighi | ... | Odile, la maquilleuse | |
| Nathalie Baye | ... | Joëlle, la scripte | |
|
|
Maurice Seveno | ... | Le reporter TV |
| David Markham | ... | Dr. Michael Nelson | |
| Bernard Menez | ... | Bernard, l'accessoiriste | |
|
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Gaston Joly | ... | Lajoie, le régisseur |
|
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Zénaïde Rossi | ... | Madame Lajoie |
The shooting of "Je vous presente Pamela" (may I introduce Pamela) begins. This is the story of en English married wife falling in love and running away with the father of her French husband. Will be simultaneously shown the shooting, the behavior of the people (including the technical team) on the set, and a part of their private life (a factor of complication)... Written by Yepok
Many movies have been made about moviemaking but none surpass Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine) for its humanity, its warmth and its genuine feel for Director François Truffaut's approach to his art and craft. The film follows Truffaut, in effect playing himself, as he makes a somewhat banal little romance called "Meet Pamela" (Je Vous Présente Pamela) with Jacqueline Bisset, Jean Pierre Aumont, Valentina Cortese (who was nominated for and should have won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress) and Jean-Pierre Léaud. It conveys the chaos of filmmaking process in front of and behind the camera and behind the scenes.
There are occasional false notes - the production manager's wife who insists on being on the shoot and watches disapprovingly as the cast and crew move in and out of each other's rooms, as funny as she is, simply doesn't ring true to the film - but in so many more cases, the details, the emotions, the mad combination of giddiness, passion and meticulousness that are needed to make a film, are captured so as to make you forget the slightly dated early 70s look. And Jacqueline Bisset is timelessly stunning in this film.
Minor notes: The movie launched the film career of Nathalie Baye as the continuity girl - her first major role; Graham Greene, the great English novelist (The Quiet American, Brighton Rock, etc.) had an uncredited cameo as the Insurance Agent - Truffaut directed the scene but did not know who the actor was until after the shot was in the can; Maurice Séveno, who appears briefly as a TV reporter, was a well-know French TV news anchor in the 60s and 70s; the score by Georges Delerue, who collaborated on many Truffaut movies, is lovely without being cloying.