Without a doubt, my favorite French New Wave director is Francois Truffaut. As a former movie critic, he has always been an inspiration for me. A man who had a difficult childhood saved by his love of cinema. A love that he repaid back all the good cinema gave him with his enormous contributions to the art of film. In 1973 he helped write and directed a loving poetic homage to the art of making movies, with “Day for Night”, which in French is titled, “La Nuit Amercaine”.
“La Nuit Amercaine”, which literally means, “American Night”, refers to a cinematic process whereby sequences filmed outdoors in the daylight are filmed through special filters that simulate the appearance of nighttime. The name of this process in English is, “Day for Night”, hence the English title of the film. This process is also one of the many film processes that this splendid movie reveals.
“Day for Night”, is a movie about the art of making movies and follows the film shoot of a crew making what appears to be a simple, average, commercial film. Truffaut himself, portrays the director, and while I am sure there are many aspects of this depiction that are auto-biographical, the director he portrays is just a professional working in this fascinating industry and far from the auteur that Truffaut was. Truffaut was less interested in depicting his inner creativity, like Fellini did in 81/2, than he was in lovingly portraying the art of making any movie as a trained skill.
The movie within the movie that is being shown is a melodramatic piece called, “Meet Pamela”, and the crew have landed on a movie set in Nice, France, to film their creation. The crew, as do all film crews, comprises of many people. The Director (Truffaut), the Starlet (Jacqueline Bisset), the older stars, now given supporting roles (Valentina Cortese and Jean-Pierre Aumont), the up and rising new star (Jean-Pierre Leaud), the script girl (the delightful singer Dani), the producer (Jean Champion), the make- up artist (Nike Arrighi), the assistant director (a very young Nathalie Baye), and others. It is a large group, some of whom have never met each other before, that descend on the set to work closely together for a period of a few months. The acting of the entire ensemble cast is first rate, adding to the textured depth of the story.
One of the many pleasures of the movie is the discovery of cinema secrets in making movies. There is the already mentioned, “Day for Night” process, but there is also a discovery of how to create snow on a set and how an artificial third floor balcony is constructed, among other nuances of film-making. The past-her- prime former starlet played by Cortese had a drinking problem, causing difficulty for her to remember her lines, so her lines are cleverly written on the walls she is facing during the performance. It does not stop her from giving a pretty good performance. This reminded me of stories I read about Marlon Brando needing to have his lines written for him, in front of him, during the filming of his scenes. That, too, never stopped Brando from giving a great performance. These little bits of cinema wisdom sprinkled throughout the movie aided in my immense enjoyment of watching this movie.
While filmed in the semi-documentary style of the French New Wave, “Day for Night” is far from being a documentary. Truffaut lets us get close to his characters and makes us care about them. The sympathy I felt for them just added to the delight of seeing the process of making a movie. There is an affair between actors that nearly ruins a marriage, another character with a serious drinking problem, the reality of mortality as well as other very human traits given to everyone. Truffaut does not only show us actors, directors and producers, but also a script girl, assistant director, and even a stunt man. All of them are shown in the film as real people with deep and complex problems. Everything that is covered in the movie, from infidelity, suppressed sexuality and mental illness, are real issues that are portrayed with great empathy and honesty. The discovery of these foibles is enhanced through the art of working together at close quarters while making a movie. To me, it is very clear that all the characters in the movie are based on real people who have worked with Truffaut, as the movie is his homage of love to the industry and the people in it.
“Day for Night” is chock full of the energetic new wave style that Truffaut excels in. The camera is constantly moving throughout and will follow a character walking in one direction before meeting another one and changing direction with the new character. This kinetic movement of the camera matches perfectly with the hectic fast pace of a movie set. It did not take long for me to feel like I was privy to the world of these interesting people and their fanciful art. His camera also has a way of panning out for precise revelations. A great example of this is in the movie’s opening scene when the young star played by Leaud emerges coming out of a metro station, travelling down a busy Parisian Street to meet the older man whom he strikes, when we hear the distant voice of the director yell “Cut!”, that reveals that we have been watching a film shoot. At that moment, Truffaut pulls his camera back quickly, revealing a camera, lighting, paraphernalia and then finally, an entire fake set built in Southern France. It is a perfect introduction to the movie and its subject.
I love movies about making movies as these films reveal a reality of an industry built on creating imaginations and alternate realities. These films open doors into a world of wonder for me. “Day for Night” is one of the very best of these movies and a real pleasure for all lovers of cinema.
1001 Movies before you die 