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La nuit américaine
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La nuit américaine (1973) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
8.0/10   5,363 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 17% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
François Truffaut
Writers:
Jean-Louis Richard (writer)
Suzanne Schiffman (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Day for Night on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
7 September 1973 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Comedy more
Tagline:
A movie for people who loves movies.
Plot:
A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 10 wins & 5 nominations more
NewsDesk:
French Actor Aumont Dies At 90
 (From Studio Briefing - Film News. 31 January 2001)

User Comments:
A classic love poem to filmmaking, witty, elegant, humane and entrancing more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jacqueline Bisset ... Julie
Valentina Cortese ... Severine
Dani ... Liliane
Alexandra Stewart ... Stacey
Jean-Pierre Aumont ... Alexandre
Jean Champion ... Bertrand
Jean-Pierre Léaud ... Alphonse (as Jean-Pierre Leaud)

François Truffaut ... director Ferrand
Nike Arrighi ... Odile
Nathalie Baye ... Joelle
Maurice Seveno ... TV Reporter
David Markham ... Doctor Nelson
Bernard Menez ... Bernard the Prop Man
Gaston Joly ... Lajoie
Zénaïde Rossi ... Madame Lajoie
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Day for Night (USA)
Effetto notte (Italy)
The American Night (International: English title) (literal title)
more
Runtime:
115 min
Country:
France | Italy
Language:
French | English
Color:
Black and White | Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Filming Locations:
Alpes-Maritimes, France more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
A sequence uses a scene with a cat drinking milk from a discarded room service tray from Truffaut's film La peau douce (1964) as its inspiration, this time showing the audience the multiple takes required to get the cat to go to the tray and drink more
Goofs:
Continuity: Several takes are wasted trying to get a cat to drink milk from a tray. Eventually Joelle brings in "the studio cat" to do the scene. But the cat that actually drinks the milk is actually a third, different cat. more
Quotes:
director Ferrand: People used to stare at fires. Now they watch TV. We need to see moving images, especially after dinner. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Sinister Saga of Making 'The Stunt Man' (2000) (V) more
Soundtrack:
Grande Chorale more

FAQ

Why was this movie nominated for Academy Awards in two different years?
Why was the title changed?
more
21 out of 24 people found the following comment useful:-
A classic love poem to filmmaking, witty, elegant, humane and entrancing, 10 January 2004
10/10
Author: mjkarlin from Beverly Hills, CA

Many movies have been made about moviemaking but none surpass Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine) for its humanity, its warmth and its genuine feel for Director François Truffaut's approach to his art and craft. The film follows Truffaut, in effect playing himself, as he makes a somewhat banal little romance called "Meet Pamela" (Je Vous Présente Pamela) with Jacqueline Bisset, Jean Pierre Aumont, Valentina Cortese (who was nominated for and should have won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress) and Jean-Pierre Léaud. It conveys the chaos of filmmaking process in front of and behind the camera and behind the scenes.

There are occasional false notes - the production manager's wife who insists on being on the shoot and watches disapprovingly as the cast and crew move in and out of each other's rooms, as funny as she is, simply doesn't ring true to the film - but in so many more cases, the details, the emotions, the mad combination of giddiness, passion and meticulousness that are needed to make a film, are captured so as to make you forget the slightly dated early 70s look. And Jacqueline Bisset is timelessly stunning in this film.

Minor notes: The movie launched the film career of Nathalie Baye as the continuity girl - her first major role; Graham Greene, the great English novelist (The Quiet American, Brighton Rock, etc.) had an uncredited cameo as the Insurance Agent - Truffaut directed the scene but did not know who the actor was until after the shot was in the can; Maurice Séveno, who appears briefly as a TV reporter, was a well-know French TV news anchor in the 60s and 70s; the score by Georges Delerue, who collaborated on many Truffaut movies, is lovely without being cloying.

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