Day for Night Film Review - Essay Example

The film ultimately narrates the production of Meet Pamela, a passe melodrama that stars Jean-Piere Amnon who is the aging movie icon, Valentina Cortese, Jean-Pierre Leaud, and Jacqueline Bisset who is a British actor. It is evident from the film that Jacqueline Bisset who plays Julie Baker in the film, is recovering from a nervous collapse as well as the controversy that leads her to marry the much older doctor. In between the film, there are various small vignettes. They include a chronicle of the crewmember's stories and Truffaut who is the director of the film, faces the numerous practical problems that a person faces when making a film.

The film portrays that behind the cameras, the crew and actors go through many sorrows, break-ups, affairs, and romances. The event that particularly shakes up the production is when the fiancee to Alphonse abandons him for the stuntman in the film and this leads him and Julie to have a one-night fling. The production is also shaken up when a car suddenly kills Alexandre and one of the supporting actors is discovered to be pregnant (Truffaut, 1986). The cast consists of Jacqueline Bisset who plays Julie, Jean-Pierre Aumont plays Dani as Liliane, Valentina Cortese who plays Severine, Alexandra Stewart who plays Stacey, Alexandre, and Jean Champion plays Bertrand.

Nathalie Baye plays Joelle, Jean-Pierre Leaud plays Alphonse, Francois Truffaut is the Director of the film and he plays Ferrand, David Markham plays Doctor Nelson whereas Zenaide Rossi plays Gaston’s wife Madame Lajoie. Christian is Alexandre’s lover and is played by Xavier Saint-Macay, Bernard Menez plays the Property man, Nike Arrighi plays Odile, Gaston Jolly plays Gaston whereas Jean Panisse plays Arthur in the film. The rest of the cast includes the TV reporter, which is played by Maurice Seven, Christophe Vasque plays the dream boy in the Director’s dream, and both Marcel Berbert and Henry Graham play the roles of the insurers (Truffaut, 1986).

Theme One of the fundamental themes in the film is whether or not movies are more paramount than life regarding those who are concerned with their making and production. The other theme is about the many illusions that are involved in both the actual movies as well as in filmmaking. It is also shocking to learn that Truffaut who is the director of the film started his noble career as a champion of cinema as an art form and as a film critic. Ferrand is shown in a scene where he opens a book package, which he had ordered.

The books were on various directors that he admires including Robert Bresson, Roberto Rossellini, Ernst Lubitsch, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Carl Theodor Dreyer, and Luis Bunuel (Truffaut, 1986). Graham Greene who is a film writer plays the role of an insurance company representative known as Henry Graham in the film.