DAY FOR NIGHT (LA NUIT AMERICAINE)

France, 1973, 116 minutes, Colour.
Jacqueline Bissett, Valentina Cortesa, Jean -Pierre Aumont, Jean - Pierre Leaud, Dani, Alexandra Stewart, Jean Champion, Francois Truffaut.
Directed by Francois Truffaut.

Day for Night takes its title from the technical term for night shots which are photographed in daylight with a filter. It is also symbolic for the world of films against the world of reality and the life of the stars who participate in both worlds.

The film is very entertaining in its presentation of the making of a film with all the problems, joys and sense of achievement. For this reason Day for Night is well worth seeing. Its insights into the mind of the director (played calmly, even in turmoil, by Truffaut himself) and its glimpses of how films are made are quite valuable. Its homage to the world of the film is done worthily.

The film is interesting also on the level of the story and the lives and temperaments of the stars. Jacqueline Bissett gives a very attractive performance, one of her best. Jean-Pierre? Leaud, who has appeared in so many of Truffaut's films, especially the Antoine Doinel series, is very good as the young actor who lives on cloud nine with the danger of forever falling off it. Valentina Cortesa has some excellent sequences in rehearsing a scene. This all gives a special quality to the film.

Day for Night won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film of 1973 and is a tribute to Truffaut and his excellent, rather self-effacing, movie-making.

1. The title belongs to movie technical language. How did its meaning give interpretation to the film? The American overtones of the title and the American overtones of film-making. How is the title a symbol for what happens in film-making day for night?

2. The film presented the film world interestingly. What insights did you find about the film world? From the very opening which seemed to be a film, and then turned out to be the making of a film, to all the rest of the details of the putting together of a film?

3. Did you understand the role of a director better after seeing this film? The work that he has to do, the responsibilities and decisions that he has, the overall point of view on the making of the film? What kind of a person does a director have to be?

4. What impression of a director did you have from Francois Truffaut? Did he fulfil well the responsibilities of a director? How modest was his contribution to the film, especially as he wrote, directed and acted in the film? What was the meaning of his dedication of the film to Lilian and Dorothy Gish? The significance of his troubled nightmares when he dreams of himself as a boy stealing the stills of Citizen Kane? what abilities as a director do you think Francois Truffaut has? How well are they illustrated in the film?

5. How enjoyable was the film within a film? Why? (Why were some of the names in 'Meet Pamela' the same as the names of the actors? Was this significant?).

6. Julie Baker - what impression of her as a Hollywood star did the film give? Does the film approve of Hollywood stars? why? Was Jacqueline Bissett's performance attractive? Where? What of her background of the breakdown, the nature of her interviews on arrival and words about her film, the recovery from breakdown and her marriage to her new husband, the fact that he had left his wife and family for her? Her relationship to her husband? How did she get on well with the other members of the crew? Her kindness and sympathy towards the various problems? Her sympathy towards Alphonse? Was it necessary for her to spend the night with him? Why did she? What were the repercussions of Alphonse's phone call to Doctor Nelson? How did this put her off? Could it really have been destructive? Were you glad that Dr Nelson came to her rescue again? What impression of principal actresses did this portrayal of Julie Baker give?

7. Alexander - was he an attractive personality? Was he living on his past? His unwillingness to act with Severine? The mystery of whom he was waiting for at the airport? The revelation that he was a homosexual? His contribution to the film? His sympathy towards the other characters? What impact did his death make? And people's memory of him after he died (and for the business side of completing the film?). What picture of ageing heroes did this give?

8. Alphonse - was he an attractive character? How young and naive? His affair with Liliane? Did he love anybody? Was he a good actor? Did he enjoy acting? Why? Did he love creating drama around himself? (The fact that his main recreation was movie-going)? Why was he too serious? Why did he dramatise Liliane's going off with the stuntman? Why did he need Julie Baker's attention? Why did he respond as he did to her spending the night with him? The phone call to Dr Nelson? The realisation of what he had done? His erratic behaviour and almost unwillingness to finish the film? What future would he have?

9. Severine - how interesting a portrayal was this? Why? What insight into ageing actresses did the film give? Severine's anxiety about her dying son? Her memory of old days in Hollywood? Her memories of liking and clashing with Alexander? Why did she rely so much on drink? How artificial was she in changing of languages and remembering the cliches of Hollywood? Why were her sequences of her going to the wrong door so funny? The drama of her final party?


10. Stacy - and the drama of her contract and the fact that she was pregnant? Her role in understanding Alphonse and Julie later? What kind of a person was she? Melodramatic yet kind? (A typical actress?).

11. Joelle and Odile - as typical girls working on the film? How hard working were they? On the script, on the makeup, acting? Their moral standards, especially sexual, in their casual relationships with members of the cast and crew? How typical?

12. Bernard - his ability in his work on the sets? His concern about the film? How dedicated was he to this? How interesting a person was he? His casual relationship with Joelle etc? His final comments on the making of the film?

13. Bertrand - what kind of a producer was he? How much responsibility did he have to take for the making of the film, for making sure that everyone was working harmoniously? His assistant Lajois and his ever-present wife, who reacted so puritanically? Why was she added to the film - for comic relief and for making a moral comment on the stars and workman's behaviour?

14. What was your emotional response to Alexander's death? What decision do you think should have been made about the film? Re-doing the scenes with another actor, or altering the script and using a stand-in? Why? What effect did the death have on the people there?

15. How happy were you when the film was completed? Why were the cast happy? What had they achieved? What had they contributed to audiences' enjoyment?

16. How enjoyable was the film in its details? What appealed to you particularly about the film-making? the retakes, the use of sets and seeing how they worked - for example the upstairs room on a platform, the stunt work etc? The personality clashes, the personality enjoyment? Why was this such a successful film?