Day for Night (film)

Day for Night (French: La Nuit américaine, lit. 'American Night') is a 1973 romantic comedy-drama film about a committed film director who struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew. Directed by François Truffaut. Written by François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, and Suzanne Schiffman. A movie for people who love movies. Séverine The actor had always dreamed of playing Hamlet. At last, he staged it and played the role! But he was so bad, he was booed every night. One night he was fed up, he stopped in the middle of "To be or not to be", turning to the audience, he said: "I didn't write the shit." What a funny life we lead! We meet, we work together, we love each other and then, as soon as we grasp something - it's gone. 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. What is a film director? A man who's asked questions about everything. Sometimes he knows the answers. People used to stare at fires. Now they watch TV. We need to see moving images, especially after dinner. I speak English well, but don't understand it! Alexandre In 80 movies I've died 24 times - electrocuted twice, hanged twice. I've been knifed, committed suicide, died in accidents, but never a natural death. Anyway, I don't think death is natural. Movie people may be more obvious about it, but love makes the world go round! Alphonse I'm sure Ferrand is wrong. Life is more important than films. Other Madame Lajoie: What is this - filmmaking? You call that a business? You've no morals. Everybody sleeps with everyone! What is it but a dirty lie. You call that normal? Filthy cinema - you're a plague on the world! You smell of filth! You'll pay for your sins! I despise you! Dialogue Julie: Liliane ran off with the stuntman. Joelle: Does Alphonse know? Julie: I had to tell him. Joelle: With the stuntman? I'd drop a guy for a film. I'd never drop a film for a guy! Alphonse: [after being dumped by his girlfriend] I need money to go to a whorehouse. Ferrand: Come on Alphonse. Go back to your room, re-read the script, learn your lines, then try to sleep. Tomorrow we work. That's what matters. Don't be a fool. You're a very good actor. No one's private life runs smoothly. That only happens in the movies. No traffic jams, no dead periods. Movies go along like trains in the night. And people like you and me are only happy in our work. I'm counting on you. Ferrand: Tell him the car crash we're shooting tomorrow will be in American night. Julie: What is American night? Ferrand: A night scene shot in daylight with a special filter. Julie: Ah, day for night. Alexandre: How's your mother? Julie: Very good. I told her we were working together. She sends her love. Alexandre: Marvelous woman! Everyone in Hollywood loved her. Too bad she quit when she did. Julie: But she's still very busy. Alexandre: She hated the way we shoot movies - in bits and pieces! I remember escorting her to the premiere of her first big Hollywood movie. A fantastic evening! When the film ended, she sat there, then turned to me and said: "I did all that? All I remember is the waiting." Julie: It's so true! Ferrand: Quiet! A full rehearsal. Let's go, Séverine. Séverine: "I don't understand you Alexander! You're - " Alexandre: "Peculiar" Séverine: Oh, yes. Ferrand: It's all right! Take it from the top, right away. Let's go, Séverine. Séverine: "I don't understand you Alexander! You've been peculiar, lately. Walking out on dinner last night! That was an insult to Julie." Damn! I said Julie instead of Pamela. Ferrand: Not to worry. Séverine: I've got an idea! I'll use numbers, the way I do for Fellini! Instead of "I don't understand you Alexander..." I'll say, 22, 83, 16, 72, 5, 3, 18, 9, 14, 7, 9. 17, 10, 10, 4, 18, 69... Ferrand: Impossible, Séverine. In France, we have to say the lines. Ferrand: She's always around! Joelle: She's Lajoie's wife. Ferrand: She thinks she's a crew member? Joelle: No, she thinks women are after him! She makes his life hell. He's too weak to dump her. We call them "The Sorrow and the Pity"! Alphonse: Bernard, are women magic? Bernard: Not women, their legs! That's why they wear skirts. Ferrand: We do the kitchen scene tomorrow. Julie: Can I have my lines? Ferrand: After dinner tonight. Julie: That's not much time! Ferrand: It's not written yet. Read it once and put it under your pillow. In the morning, you'll know it by heart! Julie: Optimist, huh? Julie: He loves you and wants to marry you. Liliane: He mentioned marriage; I didn't! Just the word gives me the creeps. Anyway, he needs a wife, a mistress, a nanny, a nurse, a sister. I can't play all those roles! Alphonse: You see, I've made a terrible discovery. You can be desperately in love with someone you despise, whose every gesture, word and thought you detest! Julie: What right have you to say that? Say you made a mistake but never be ashamed of having loved. By despising Liliane, you're merely degrading yourself. Alphonse: Maybe you're right. Anyway, my love affairs have always ended badly. I thought women were magic. Julie: Of course they're not magic. Or men are too. Everyone's magic, and no one is. Alphonse: Let me ask you, are women magic? Lajoie: No, they're not. Neither are men. If a woman says she's known outstanding men, it means she's slept around. Alexandre: Actors are so vulnerable! Dr. Michael Nelson: Of course they are. Everyone is afraid of being judged. But actors are always being judged. In your work, and in your life! Alexandre: Yes. We wonder what people think of us, if they love us. It must be the same for all performers. As a child, when Mozart was asked to play, he'd reply: "Gladly, but first say you love me." Dr. Michael Nelson: And in your job, you're always kissing. Alexandre: As you say, yes, we do a lot of kissing. The handshake was invented to show you're unarmed, friendly. We went one better: we show our love. Joelle: Back to work! You dictate, I'll type. We promised it to Julie tonight. Ferrand: Okay, back to the kitchen. No more guilt or sense of shame. They decide to run away like thieves in the night. Joelle: "Pamela" could actually say that! We must show that she's completely lucid. She loved the son, now she loves the father. That must come across. Ferrand: Yes. Julie explained it very well. Here's her interview in the morning paper: "The girl realizes the boy she married is only a pale reflection to his father." She understood the script! Why? Because her mother was an actress. She knows Hollywood, where many kids try to live up to famous parents. Fairbanks, Barrymore and others. Bertrand: That's not nice or friendly. Aren't we one big family? Alexandre: So were the people in Greek tragedies! Cast Jacqueline Bisset - Julie Baker Valentina Cortese - Séverine Dani - Liliane Alexandra Stewart - Stacey Jean-Pierre Aumont - Alexandre Jean Champion - Bertrand, the producer Jean-Pierre Léaud - Alphonse François Truffaut - Ferrand, the director Niké Arrighi - Odile, the make-up artist Nathalie Baye - Joëlle, the assistant director Maurice Séveno - a television reporter David Markham - Dr. Nelson, Julie's husband Bernard Ménez - Bernard, the set designer Gaston Joly - Gaston Zénaïde Rossi - Madame Lajoie, Gaston's wife Xavier Saint-Macary - Christian, Alexandre's lover Graham Greene - an insurance agent External links 0070460 Day for Night Category:1973 films Category:French films Category:Comedy-drama films Category:Romantic drama films Category:BAFTA winners (films) Category:Films about actors Category:Films set in France Category:Films directed by François Truffaut