‘Day for Night’ is a film by Francois Truffaut, of French New Wave; produced in France in the year 1973 having written by Jean-Louis Richard, Suzzane Schiffman as well as Truffaut (Canby 1). It presents Jacqueline Bisset as Julie, Jean-Pierre Aumont as Alexandre, Valentina Cortese as Severine and Jean-Pierre Leaud as Alphonse as the main actors in the film. Francois Traffaut produced and directed a comic as well as dramatic film.
The film presents a situation where by Julie baker has suffered from the nervous system failure. This causes her to get married to an older doctor far beyond her age without Julie neither objecting nor minding the condition of dying son. The doctor is a physician who attends to her during the nervous system breakdown. What follows after the marriage is a series of mesmerizing insight into what at most times takes place while making a movie. When they are not on stage, the actors experience love affairs which are clouded by breakups which make up the sad moments. Alphonse is left by his engagement girlfriend who falls in love with the stuntman of the film. This causes Alphonse to make for a one time affair with Julie. The film leaves the audience with a feeling of the experience behind the curtains and what it entails making a film. The challenges the actors’ crew faces and how they go about it.
Ferrand thinks that the process of making a film is; "a stagecoach journey into the far west. At the start you hope for a beautiful trip. But shortly you wonder if you will make it at all" (French 1). Day for night film reveals and proves his words. The purpose of the movie is effectively brought out leaving the audience with a vivid understanding of what film making is all about away from the camera. It presents the tricks that prevent the destruction of the illusion in a film. This adds up the audience’s enjoyment. After watching the film, ones is able to understand how the actors separate the film scenes and real life as well as coping with both of them.
The film covers the theme of the controversy between the importance of the lives of film makers and the film themselves. It explores the several illusions that film making entails making it a great film in addressing the film. It effectively presents the artificiality of a film and the distinction with real life situation. The director of the ‘Day for Night’ Francois Truffaut who acts Ferrand, plays as a committed actor. Despite the troubles he manages to bring out the theme of the film clearly. The characters Julie and Severine are widely recognized for their humor. They make the audience influenced at the times of the film that creep up. This moment comes up to the viewers without any caution making the film hilarious. The husband to Julie, the doctor who they engage with in private affairs turns out as uninteresting.
Through its actors, the film manages to effectively bring out and accomplish the objective for which it was produced. The purpose of the movie is effectively brought out leaving the audience with a vivid understanding of what film making is all about away from the camera. The film is hilarious and the experience filled with the feeling of film making presents the film as an effective art work.
Works Cited
Canby, Vincent. "Day For Night (1973) Screen: 'Day for Night':Truffaut's Own World Viewed From Inside The Cast." The New York Times [New York] 29 Sept. 1973: n. pag. Print.
French, Phillip. "Day for Night." The Gurdian [London] 20 Feb. 2011: n. pag. Print.
Truffaut, François, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean P. Aumont, Valentina Cortese, Jean Champion, Dani, and Jean-Pierre Léaud. Day for Night: La Nuit Amércaine. Burbank, CA N.p., 2003. Print.
