Day for Night

[siochembio]

Day for Night
1973
Director: François Truffaut
Starring: François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jacqueline Bisset

Terms overly used by critics to describe Truffaut’s Day for Night:

• Love letter to films
• Ode to movie-making
• Fluffy
• Light

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. This is arguably my favorite Truffaut film, but when I just rewatched it, I had to ask myself, why? Why is this film - so clearly fluffy, superficial, and not terribly deep - my most beloved work by one of the most renowned directors of all time? It comes down to Truffaut’s passionate filmmaking, the reason this film in particular is called “a love letter to films.”

The story is a trifle - a director (Truffaut himself) is making a movie. There are troubles on set, actors and actresses are drunk, people sleep around, fight and makeup, and a tragedy threatens to derail the whole thing, but really, the film is about making a movie.

The passion comes from this. I’m not terribly interested in watching Jean-Pierre Léaud fall into bed with Jacqueline Bisset (although Léaud is incredibly funny in this film). I’m much more fascinated by the behind-the-scenes stuff that Truffaut bravely puts in front of the camera. A neat lighting trick with a candle, bringing in a stunt cat who will actually lap on cue, a balcony to nowhere, fake snow covering the metro station - it’s absolutely fascinating. Truffaut’s montages of the film-making process are genius. The perfect pairing of these montages with Georges Delerue’s brilliant score makes for a heady combination. I cannot watch these montages without physically smiling, and my heart is so happy I think it will burst from my chest.

Click to view

After the first thirty seconds or so, the clip goes into one of these amazing montages. The music... the joy...

This is Truffaut explaining why he loves movies. This is what Day for Night is all about. The terror of working around unexpected complications, the bargaining and compromising to make sure everything gets done on time, and the exhilaration in the process, the joy of the work. Is the film that is being made in Day for Night any good? No, probably not; I don’t think I would be interested in seeing “Meet Pamela.” But Day for Night is another beast altogether.

I have never made a film, but I briefly acted in a couple plays, and I have years of playing in musical groups to my credit. In both the concert bands and the plays, I never liked concerts nearly as much as I loved rehearsals. I loved the work, not the finished product. And that’s what Truffaut is saying with Day for Night. The director he plays probably knows that the film he’s working on isn’t the next great film, but he revels in the process of making it. I get that. Truffaut has managed to show onscreen that tremendous, passionate love for the creation of art, any art, in this film.

9/10