Day for Night (1973) - Movie Review Example

This movie review aims to summarize, evaluate and analyze the 1973 hit movie Day for Night, which aspires to bring to the audience the aesthetics of cinematography. Though on a first glance it is merely a movie about a movie, the film does more than just tell a story, it portrays the art of story making in a most successful way. Truffaut brilliantly combines real life characters along with fictional characters of Meet Pamela to produce a greatly effective film, which lets the audience relate with the film unit as well as be inspired by their constant endeavor to follow the passion they share for movies.

This movie, which falls into the genre of drama, comedy and romance, released in 1973, is the epitome of cinema that deftly portrays the art of filmmaking. Thus, on a superficial note, one can observe that it is simply a movie about a movie. However, on a deeper analysis, the movie effectively illustrates various issues arising in both personal and professional realms regarding the cast as well as the crew, which a director has to face and conquer in the process of making films. The researcher states that director François Truffaut was one of the founding fathers of the French New Wave and an eminent icon in French cinematography.

The screenplay writers for this movie, originally titled ‘La nuit américaine,’ are François Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard and Suzanne Schiffman, and the film stars world renowned actors such as Jacqueline Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Jean-Pierre Léaud etc. . The off-screen characters are unbelievably real as they are imperfect with their day to day problems, and this entails the audience connecting with the characters and the predicaments that they face. The whole movie portrays the juxtaposition between the real life members of the film unit as well as the characters they portray in Meet Pamela.

Truffaut’s amazing ability lies in the way he develops both the on screen and off screen characters, thus bringing overall finesse to the film and keeping the audience enchanted in the movie making process throughout the film. Truffaut also fulfills his role as a director to cast appropriate actors, which is construed by the incredibly effective performance of each individual member of the film unit with the emotions they radiate through their facial expressions and body language demanded by the particular situations of the movie.

The theme of the film is basically the love and passion people posses about movie as well as movie making, which is only emphasized through Joelle’s dialog when she says “I would drop a guy for a film, but I would never drop a film for a guy” (Day for Night, 1973). Truffaut wants to communicate a message to his audience that no matter what problems they face when they traverse down the path of their passions, they need to stay committed to themselves and the passion that they love and overcome whatever ordeals that come their way.

If there is one moral that Truffaut wants to imbibe in the hearts of his audience, it is following their dreams and passion along with always sticking together and being there for one’s family. Though none of the members of the film unit share any blood relation, they are still a big family who sacrifice for the other and are there for them through the ups