Reviews of Day for Night
Displaying all 2 reviews
Byron Brubaker
28Sep10
From the opening credits to the last frame it is great fun to see behind the scenes of the making of a movie. What is going on in the cast’s and crew’s private lives and how it affects the movie being made was the most interesting thing though. The many uninterrupted tracking shots following Truffaut as a writer/director named Ferrand, who for all intents and purposes is Truffaut, are amazing in their fluidity as he answers production questions from everyone who crosses his path. Jacqueline Bisset as a visiting American/British star in the French production of Meet Pamela is beautifully natural in her role. Jean-Pierre Aumont as the mature actor is also likable and charming. Nathalie Baye stands out in her hard working, strong, and attractive role as a script girl who seems to have more responsibilities than the assistant director. Jean-Pierre Leaud and Dani are good as a young immature couple, he the other lead with Bisset’s and Aumont’s characters, she getting an assistant continuity job through him. Valentina Cortese is an aging actress who is turning more and more to drink. Bernard Menez, the prop man, is quite funny. There are producers, other actors, more crew, paparazzi, and extras as well.
Movie sets are controlled places where stories are committed to celluloid, not like real life. Still unexpected occurrences like trying to film animals, actresses becoming pregnant, emotions becoming unstable because of actors’ private relationship troubles, and sudden death lead to changes being made to the script all along the way. One theme is the love of movie making, which we see throughout. Another is relationships between the sexes. When Alphonse (Leaud) asks Julie (Bisset) his repeated question “Are women magic?” she replies, “Everyone is magic. And no one is.” By giving the actors and the crew the same attention, by giving the making of Meet Pamela the same attention as the off camera lives of those involved, and by giving several actresses roles as strong or stronger than many of the men have, Traffaut shows that he truly believes “Everyone is magic. And no one is.”
- Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
Elston
20Jun10
Day for Night is a term used when filming a night scene during the day (through the use of special filters). And Day for Night (the movie) is very much a film about filmmaking, though less poetical and more realistic than 8 ½. The self-reflexivity is also better, more deep and fulfilling than in Godard, partly because Truffaut is clever enough to constantly remind you you’re watching an artificial art, but also reverent and talented enough to draw you right back in. The opening shot is a good example, the beautiful, intricate mise en scene is rudely interrupted as the camera pulls back to reveal the movie set. Then you watch the same scene over again, but the magical energy is drained because we know it’s not real. It’s fascinating how art can hold us under its spell, until we become conscious of the sorcery. The film is concerned with the drama of real life, in this case people stumbling, clumsily, blindly towards finishing a film. The characters are ironically fake and fraudulent like the movie they’re producing. You can tell Truffaut puts a lot of work into his films, they are so tight and quick-witted, not a wasted breath, quite different from Godard’s which are more languid and searching. It is one of the best films about films I’ve seen.
- Currently 5.0/5 Stars.