Truffaut's film about making a film is rather like a documentary. There's no real drama, no real comedy, and in fact it made no emotional impact on me. The closest the film comes to being dramatic is one scene where we're told that one of the characters died off screen, and another in which an actress had been drinking and can't remember her lines, but even these are less weighty than what you might see in a made-for-TV movie about a runaway teenager.There's also a brief dream sequence in which the director as a boy steals movie stills from Citizen Kane, as Truffaut's alter ego Jean-Pierre Léaud did fourteen years earlier in The 400 Blows — a far, far better film. Speaking of Jean-Pierre Léaud, in 1973 he appeared not only in Day For Night but starred in Jean Eustache's masterpiece La Maman et la Putain. Check it out just to compare the performances, and the relative power of the two stories.Truffaut's friend and colleague Jean-Luc Godard reportedly walked out of Day For Night and then wrote him a letter saying that the film was "a lie", and the two never spoke again. I managed to watch the whole movie, but won't bother to a second time. Three stars for the physical beauty of Jacqueline Bisset, Dani, and Nathalie Baye.

"Day for night" is a technique used in cinematography to shoot a scene during the day and make it look like night by applying special filters or particular film stock. The original title of the movie, La nuit américaine, is the French phrase for the technique, and also a nod to American cinema, which Truffaut thought had a great influence on the French New Wave. This 'movie about movie-making' was also greatly inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2, only Day for Night appears to be the funnier, less main-character-centered version of 8 1/2. It won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1974.Day for Night follows the lives of members of a filmmaking crew, rushing to finish a movie called 'Je Vous Presente Pamela' before the deadline. I'd say there is no protagonist, although the director Ferrand (François Truffaut) keeps things together and going, while living in fear of not finishing the movie in time. There is Julie (Jacqueline Bisset), brought from Great Britain to play Pamela, who has recently suffered a nervous breakdown. Then we have Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a boy in the body of a man, who seems to want to marry any girl that sleeps with him; and Severine (Valentina Cortese, nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), an actress who develops a drinking problem since she can't cope with her aging; and many others.Along with The 400 Blows, this is an autobiographical movie. But, unlike the aforementioned, Day for Night is a funny, entertaining view of Truffaut's adult life and of his job. Also, unlike 8 1/2 – which is a movie about not being able to resolve one's personal problems and wanting to quit filmmaking – this is all about working hard, overcoming all sorts of obstacles and ultimately finishing what you started. As I said before, it doesn't concentrate on one character only, which makes it a bit chaotic – but in a very enjoyable way – as well as interesting and never tedious. The actors' great performances manage to get a reaction from the audience whenever something happens to their characters, regardless of how long they've been on screen.Hommages to other great directors are worth mentioning too. In a scene, Ferrand receives a package full of books that are supposed to help him with his movie: the books are about Buñuel, Rossellini, Bergman, Hitchcock, Godard and others. Then there is Ferrand's dream about himself as a child, going to a closed cinema only to steal photos of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, perhaps symbolising only his love for the movie, or also him knowing he (and any other director?) will never film anything better, so he can only steal from it. All in all, this is a very realistic movie that leads us through many struggles so we can reach some sort of Greek tragedy-like catharsis with the happy ending, and rejoice with the characters.Rating: 9/10 Read more at http://passpopcorn.wordpress.com/

I want to salute to people who introduced me to this film. After a long time I had the luck to see such a great masterpiece. The film pays tribute to a number of films including the godfather and citizen Kane. Again one of the rare films in which I didn't checked the elapsed time. If you feel bored with cinema, you can watch this film again and again to make sure what films truly have. I felt like in a complete different world while watching each and every aspect of the film. Be it the cinematography, acting, location, script, characters, story progress. It is so good to have films like these with us. Usually I write about the films after some time but for this one I could not help. You mix every possible combination and you will find that in the film."A must watch for everyone."

Making a movie can be grueling work. It can also be boring with lots of downtime, depending on level of contribution. Clashing egos, financial problems, technical glitches, snafus and pressures of all kinds also are common on movie sets. It's a grubby business, hardly the idolized fantasy of outsiders.The film's director Francois Truffaut plays the role of director Ferrand on the movie set of "Meet Pamela", the film within a film. All kinds of people participate in the making of "Meet Pamela", including the producer, the stunt man, sound man, prop man, and script girl. There's also a recalcitrant cat that won't do what it's supposed to do in its appointed scene. "We'll shoot the scene when you can dig up a cat that can act", growls the director. Funny stuff. Through it all, Ferrand does the best he can. And viewers get a peek at what goes into making a movie."Day For Night" belongs in the comedy-drama genre. There are funny moments. There are also quite serious moments. Some of the characters come across as insecure prima donnas, like the actress Severine (Valentina Cortese) who gets frustrated because she keeps opening the wrong door in one of her scenes. And midway through, a scene proves tragically prophetic, but it's very subtle.It's a talky film with the immense dialogue of a stage play. Which might explain why the film's pace seems speeded up. Dialogue is rushed, with a conspicuous absence of natural pauses in people's conversations. As such, "Day For Night" comes across as a bit contrived, forced, put-on. Which it is. But viewers are supposed to be getting the opposite impression. That's my main complaint, though, additionally, I would have recast the role of Alphonse.As movies about movies go, "Day For Night" is one of the better ones. Viewers do get a peek behind the camera. But the entire film is still fictional. And viewers would be mistaken if they assumed that "Day For Night" is movie-making realism.