BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24th, for a rare theatrical screening of 1973’s “Day for Night,” director Francois Truffaut love letter to movies and the people who make them.
Truffaut himself appears as the harried director of a frivolous melodrama, the shooting of which is plagued by the whims of a neurotic actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an aging but still forceful Italian diva (Valentina Cortese), and a British ingenue haunted by personal scandal (Jacqueline Bisset). An irreverent paean to the prosaic craft of cinema as well as a delightful human comedy about the pitfalls of sex and romance, “Day for Night” is buoyed by robust performances and a sparkling score by the legendary Georges Delerue.
“Probably no story since “The 400 Blows” had excited Truffaut as much as “Day for Night.” After all, it’s a film about filmmaking from a celebrated film lover; it’s hard to see how the subject could have failed to energize him. But somehow, despite our high expectations, the movie still manages to surprise us with how good it is—it’s magical, in fact. Nothing in it feels like the product of meticulous design, even as the craft behind the simplest moments of a feature film is exposed. Depicting the shoot, from first day to last, of a movie called “Meet Pamela,” “Day for Night” seems effortless, as if this was the movie Truffaut had been preparing for all his life.
“It’s hard to believe that the movie’s structure had never been used before, but I don’t think it had. In many ways, “Day for Night” plays as a mockumentary, an impression strengthened by Truffaut’s appearance as the director, Ferrand, and Truffaut’s frequent star Jean-Pierre Léaud’s as Alphonse. The third team member playing himself is composer Georges Delerue, who is heard only over the phone but is referred to by his full name.
“Making movies can be a way for a movie lover to live inside movies. And once in a while, such a filmmaker might create something so beautiful the audience will want to climb inside too.” — David Cairns
Tickets are $6 and available at the link above. Students use code STUDENT for free admission (must show student ID at the door).
