Day for Night

PG

Released Sep 7, 1973

2h 0m

Comedy

Drama

Romance

List

98%

40 Reviews

Tomatometer

91%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A film director (François Truffaut) tries to get his movie made while observing the real-life dramas in his actors' lives. Fading icon Severine (Valentina Cortese) forgets her lines when she drinks, while her co-star, Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Aumont), is fixated on his lover's imminent arrival. Meanwhile, insecure young star Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Léaud) has emotional outbursts, yet seems well-balanced compared to Julie (Jacqueline Bisset), a British actress recuperating from a nervous breakdown.

Read More

Read Less

Critics Consensus

A sweet counterpoint to Godard's Contempt, Truffaut's Day for Night is a congenial tribute to the self-afflicted madness that is making a movie.

Read Critics Reviews

Pauline Kael

New Yorker

Day for Night is tender but too fan-magazinish in approach, too tenderly shallow for its own good.

Jan 20, 2022

Full Review

Judith Crist

New York Magazine/Vulture

[Day for Night is] universal in its sheer humanism, its exuberance, its tragic-comic view of people and events, and completely irresistible in its sheer love of the life it leads.

Jun 11, 2020

Full Review

Justin Chang

Los Angeles Times

A glorious ode to the fleeting, addictive and irreplaceable joys of cinematic collaboration...

May 3, 2018

Full Review

Dilys Powell

Sunday Times (UK)

It has been a pleasure; one is sorry it is over; and I at any rate come out feeling positively good-tempered myself.

Aug 8, 2022

Full Review

Romola Costantino

The Sun-Herald (Australia)

Witty, ironic, tragic, and wonderfully natural, this is a snatch of unmistakably true experience from a master who knows the film world in depth.

Mar 7, 2022

Full Review

Janet Maslin

Boston Phoenix

Truffaut's Day For Night is a wonderfully funny evocation of the psychic netherworld in which film crews operate.

Oct 8, 2021

Full Review

Read all reviews

Shiven K

A chaotic and sweet making of a film, Day For Night is truly French cinema at its most enjoyable.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Shioka O

As of this is French, the direction and acting are rather subdued than Hollywood comedy (or I would say more natural), but this cold observant view makes this film effectively satiric/funny at times. One of an entertaining film depicts the industry. Director is always in pain.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/30/22

Full Review

william d

This film taught me that while I love movies I really don't care how they're made, I only care about the finished product.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

jaime h

Possibly the best movie about the making of a movie and the industry shenanigans that come with being on location. Hilarious and bold!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

"See you at unemployment. We can sign up together!" As a general rule, you can't trust filmmakers to make films about film, because filmmakers have egos the size of your average aircraft carrier. Regardless of whether or not it's accomplished through subtle writing or overt worship, there is no shortage of films that extole 'the craft' as the most sublime form of art ever devised and those that practice it as the enlightened few that are tasked with bringing the fire of Prometheus to the dull, ignorant masses. Fortunately, Day for Night is not that sort of film. Truffaut's treats filmmaking as important, but predominantly when considering those that are actively involved in creation as a means of both personal expression and livelihood; in particular, he doesn't shy away from the absurdity of it all, the eccentric personalities, the mishmash of emotional liberation and varying levels of professionalism, and the combination of artistry and commercialism. People engaging in spontaneous affairs while deciding on what vase will look best in a scene, trying to navigate the channels of bureacracy while also corraling a series of personalities brought together by the love for this insane lifestyle. It's both a warm love letter and a sharp satire, and likely among the best representations of its type. Some may say its lighthearted treatment of the process ignores the genuine artistic depth of 'true cinema', but those people probably consider Ingmar Bergman and John Cassavetes to be the only directors worth watching. You can't talk about movies without considering, and in Truffaut's case tenderly memorializing, the quirks. All this to explain how two professionals end up kneading butter in a bathroom sink to meet the absurd demands of an emotionally compromised actress, while another flags down a wayward, strung-out actor on a go-kart track. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/25/21

Full Review

dave s

Day for Night, director Francois Truffaut's love letter to movie making, is a humorous, informative and, at times, touching look at a film shoot. It's filled with behind-the-scenes tricks of the trade and shows us through their own lens how filmmakers work their way through a scene. Truffaut, not surprisingly, plays the director, pinballing his way through the shoot by putting out fire after fire, including a great scene involving a cat who can't grasp the fact that his only function is to drink from a saucer of milk. Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film almost fifty years ago, it still stands up today as one of the best films ever made about the movie industry.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

François Truffaut

Director

Jacqueline Bisset

Julie

François Truffaut

Director Ferrand

Jean-Pierre Aumont

Alexandre

Jean-Pierre Léaud

Alphonse

Valentina Cortese

Severine

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

96%

88%

My Night at Maud's

90%

87%

Small Change

84%

76%

Emma

96%

85%

Claire's Knee

97%

90%

Sense and Sensibility

TRAILER

for Sense and Sensibility

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

The Blacklist, Once Upon a Time, and More Available on DVD This Week

View more photos

Synopsis

A film director (François Truffaut) tries to get his movie made while observing the real-life dramas in his actors' lives. Fading icon Severine (Valentina Cortese) forgets her lines when she drinks, while her co-star, Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Aumont), is fixated on his lover's imminent arrival. Meanwhile, insecure young star Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Léaud) has emotional outbursts, yet seems well-balanced compared to Julie (Jacqueline Bisset), a British actress recuperating from a nervous breakdown.

Director: François Truffaut
Screenwriter: Jean-Louis Richard, Suzanne Schiffman, François Truffaut
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Les Films du Carrosse
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language: French (Canada)
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 7, 1973, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 13, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $17.8K
Runtime: 2h 0m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm