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.