DAY FOR NIGHT... THE FOREIGN REVIEW

DAY FOR NIGHT is Francois Truffaut's valentine to movie making.

"A delightful, episodic salute to the highs and lows of film making, conveyed with the ease and apparent effortlessness that characterized so much of Truffaut's work."

It is a summation of my twelve years in the movie business." - Francois Truffaut

Quote from Director Ferrand: " Making a film is like a stagecoach ride in the old west. When you start, you are hoping for a pleasant trip. By the halfway point, you just hope to survive."

This story opens showing a busy Paris street scene, people buying papers, buses going by, etc. The picture focuses on a young man in his 20's, Alphonse (Jean Pierre Leaud), who comes bounding up the underground subway stairs, walks around to the sidewalk where he slaps the face of an older man, Alexander, (Jean Pierre Aument). Suddenly the picture swings to the face of Director Ferrand (Francois Truffaut) yelling cut! The audience then realizes that this is part of a film script being shot, known as The Slap Scene, at a film studio in Nice, France, one of many scenes to be shot for Ferrand's newest film project, I WANT YOU TO MEET PAMELA.

On this first day of shooting, and in between takes, an interviewer questions Alexander and Alphonse about the plot of their film, "I Would Like You to Meet Pamela." Between the two actors, the audience learns that this film tells the sad tale of what happens when a young man brings to his parents' home his new English bride, Pamela, to meet his parents. Unfortunately, Pamela and Alphonse's father, Alexander, fall in love, and run away together, which inspires Alphonse to get revenge. A tragic ending is the result, supposedly based on a true story.

We then enter the world of film making seen from the perspective of film maker/director Ferrand,(Francois Truffaut), as he answers questions, makes decisions, navigates around the usual problems that can pop up on a film production. Besides being a decision maker and problem solver, he finds himself in the role of not only the director, but also being a father, counselor, encouraging presence to his hand-picked actors and actresses, patiently working around and through their frailties, and personal love-life problems.

Predictably, problems begin to arise after the first day of shooting. After a meeting with his producer, Ferrand learns that the American Financial backers want the entire film shot in just 7 weeks, a mere 35 days, which means there is little wiggle room concerning the shooting schedule. Also, Ferrand also receives some bad news about his hand-picked star, Julie ( Jacqueline Bisset) who was cast for the part of Pamela. Julie, who had a mental break-down 18 months beforehand, and had to quit in the middle of a film shoot, isn't thought to be a good risk by the insurance doctor. This means that if Julie has another episode during their shoot and quits again, they are left holding the financial bag! Ferrand assures his nervous producer that Julie has been stable and has also married her doctor, Dr. Nelson (David Markham).

While the film may have been perfectly cast, the cast was made up of very human people, each with their talents, as well as their personal challenges. The audience gets to know the cast players observing them not only on the set, but also at the Hotel Atlantic in Nice.

Alphonse is also not without problems. While being a great casting choice for his role, he is immature, self-centered, impulsive and overly romantic. He currently thinks that he is deeply in love with a girl, Lilliane(Dani), who he got a job on this film by asking Ferrand to hire her as an assistant to the script girl, Joelle (Nathalie Baye). It becomes obvious as the film progresses in various degrees that Lilliane doesn't reciprocate his love, and is putting up with him until some other opportunity comes along. The audience is kept guessing who she will leave Alphonse for, which will surely set off the unpredictable Alphonse, causing problems for Ferrand.

Severene (Valentia Cortese) who plays the mother of Alphonse in the film, was an Italian actress in demand in Hollywood 20 years ago, but now is offered parts of women who are left by husbands, etc. She is unhappy where her career has evolved to, and needs alcohol to cope, now a rather fragile person. She has some trouble learning her lines, among other things, also causing problems for Ferrand.

Alexander (Jean-Pierre Aumont), who had a scandalous affair with Severene long ago, plays her errant husband in the story. He has personal problems as well, and is always going to the airport when he isn't in a scene. Any of this baggage attached to Alexander could cause problems for Ferrand, which of course one does.

Luckily, Ferrand is up to all these challenges, and with a little luck and the help from his top notch crew, the audience get to see how all these problems, both the small and disastrous ones, are worked out, worked around, and worked through to finally allow the completion of the filming of I WANT YOU TO MEET PAMELA, much to the relief and joy of all involved, especially Ferrand and his producer.

Film maker Francois Truffaut no doubt received his creative inspiration for this film from personal experiences and based this script on a culmination of his various experiences working with people involved in his many years of making films, for which he is considered to be the greatest of the New Wave French movie makers. His favorite themes revolved around passion, women, childhood and faithfulness.

During his career, Truffaut did a autobiographical series of films, starting with THE 400 BLOWS, followed by LOVE AT 20, STOLEN KISSES, BED AND BOARD, and LOVE ON THE RUN. Interestingly, he used Jean -Pierre Aumont, as Antoine Doinel, to represent himself.

This unique screenplay, which earned a nomination for Best original screenplay, was the result of creative collaboration between Francois Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, and Suzanne Schiftman. The title of this script, DAY FOR NIGHT, is named after the filming procedure of filming a night scene during the day, with a special lens.

The fine, inspired direction, by Francois Truffaut earned him a Best Director nomination. As he was playing a role in front of the camera as well, as the director, Ferrand, one gets an up front view of how Truffaut works with his cast members, while filming this film within a film.

The classical music score was the inspired creation of George Delerue, who was a favorite French composer of Francois. One of the tasks of director Ferrand was talking to George on the phone, and listening to the music over the phone. George Delerue won an Oscar for Best musical score for A LITTLE ROMANCE, and was nominated several times for musical scores he did during his long career.

The cast does a superb job, portraying the various characters which all have an important part to play in the making of this film, in front of and behind the camera.

Valentia Cortese, who plays Severine, earned a much deserved Best Supporting Actress nomination. My favorite scene with Valentia is when her character and Alexander are alone in the dining room, where she confronts him about his rudeness to Pamela. She had had quite a few drinks before this shot, and had trouble saying her lines. So, her lines were written out for her. She becomes more and more upset with herself when she keeps flubbing her lines. When she finally gets her lines right, she opens up the cupboard doors instead of the hallway doors. However, she draws from her emotional state, and does some great takes, but still opens the wrong doors. Ferrand finally has to ask people not needed to leave the set.

Jean Pierre Aumont does a great job in this key role, portraying Alexander, the father who falls for Pamela. Behind the camera, in his personal life, he is always going to the airport. He wants more than anything else to have a son, and is looking to adopt a young man. The roads can be hazardous, as they all find out.

The late Jean Pierre Aumont was a talented actor, who got his start in French films in the '30's. During WW2 2, he fought for France before Nazi occupation, earning both The Legion of Honor, and The Crosse de Guerre. Hollywood embraced him, and he immigrated to America, and started a film career with MGM. After the war, he worked in both American films and French films and TV.

Jacqueline Bisset is convincing as Julie, an actress recovering from a nervous breakdown. She makes the audience nervous, wondering if and what may push her over the top, causing disaster. She does something foolish, on impulse, that causes her great emotional distress. Will she crack up again?

Her performance got her recognition as a serious actress, as she got noticed by critics. Bisset has said that she considers her role as Julie as being the most fulfilling.

Jean Pierre Leaud does a great job playing bad boy Alphonse, who is a spoiled, immature actor who causes havoc off screen and emotional pain for Julie, nearly derailing this film production.

French actress Nathalie Baye, in her film debut, convincingly plays Ferrand's wise and insightful script girl, who saves the day several times during the shoot.

Day For Night is rated PG, and is suitable for family viewing. Young children may not be able to follow the storyline. The are some moral truths that can be explored by family members.

If you enjoyed DAY FOR NIGHT, you may like SOAPDISH, TOOTSIE, IRMA VEP, and BOWFINGER.

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