Day for Night Details

The many layers of reality

This is a fictional film about the making of a fictional film. There could just as easily have been a documentary crew filming the 'real' filming of the fictional crew filming the fictional film.... but maybe it is fortunate for the crew and cast that there wasn't since filmmaking turns out to be a messy affair!

What we get is as close to seeing how movies are really made as we are likely to get without being on set for 6 weeks.

On one level it is a straightforward story of the filmmaking process; on another, its the story of the film script they are shooting, and on yet another, its all about the weird unreal world of the actors, director and crew mambers whose own lives and loves intermingle and influence the other levels.

It's exquisitely crafted, very funny and tragic, and it reveals that films are not made by directors or 'auteurs' after all. Since this is a Francois Truffaut film (he of 'Cahiers du Cinema' fame and the whole auteur / director as God movement in France) this is a telling revelation.

What we see is a ruthlessness and focus on the part of the 'fictional' director in the film of the film (played of course by Truffaut himself) who steals, borrows and manipulates all around him to get his fictional film onto (fictional?) celluloid.

Intruiging and well worth seeing!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Clever and fun

Director, stars and crew assemble to film what is clearly a rather stodgy melodrama and everything goes wrong. Since Truffaut appears as a version of himself, this must go down as a significant technical achievement. It breezes along with interesting and amusing characters and fascinating insights into the tricks of the trade. Movie fans will love it.