History Film / DayForNight

* GratuitousEnglish: Truffaut was fond of this trope. He gets a few bits of English, most obviously in the scene where a drunk Severine, constantly botching her lines, starts muttering in English for no reason at all.

''Day for Night'', known originally in French as ''La Nuit Américaine'', is a 1973 film by FrenchNewWave director [[FrancoisTruffaut François Truffaut]], dealing with the trials and tribulations of making a film named ''Meet Pamela'' (''Je vous présente Pamela'' in the original French), about a woman who has an affair with her father-in-law. However, every possible complication manages to appear, putting the film in jeopardy.

* {{Dedication}}: To actresses Lillian and Dorothy Gish (showing a still of the two at the beginning of the film).
* DeletedScene: In-universe example. [[spoiler:Alexandre's death]] and the insurance agent's refusal to cover the cost of recasting the role mean that his remaining scenes must be dropped from the shooting schedule, and several sequences which have already been shot but for which his footage has not been filmed are also cut from the finished film.

* FakeShemp: In-universe example: [[spoiler:Alexandre dies in a car crash before filming the scene in which he is shot by Alphonse. The scene is shot with a stand-in seen only from behind.]]

* RomanceOnTheSet: In-Universe, ''Day for Night'' is made of this trope. Alphonse bets his girlfriend Liliane as a script-girl so she can be with him during the production, she then falls in love with the stuntman and runs off, heartbroken Alphonse has a fling on the rebound with Julie, while a number of other members of the team also have affairs with each other. Hilariously {{Lampshaded}} in the rant by Mme. Lajoie, who is only on the set to watch her husband so he doesn't engage in any hanky-panky.

%%* StraightGay: Alexandre. zero context

* ActorExistenceFailure: In-universe example: [[spoiler:Alexandre dies in a car crash before filming the scene in which he is shot by Alphonse. The scene is shot with a stand-in seen only from behind.]]

* EndOfAnEra: How Ferrand sees [[spoiler:the death of Alexandre for film-making as a whole]].

* HideYourPregnancy: In a scene where Janelle, the woman who is the secretary of the Father-in-law, gets out of a pool to take a letter for him, the crew discover she's just barely pregnant, and by the time she comes back in six weeks for the main part of her scenes, she will be obviously several months pregnant. They have to figure out a way to cover the issue, but they can't simply have her seen as pregnant as it will complicate the story by making the audience think her boss knocked her up.

** Alphonse and Julie have a conversation by shouting across at each other from open windows, very similar to a famous shot from ''JulesEtJim''.

** When Severine cannot remember her lines, she suggests reciting numbers and dubbing her lines in post-production, as she did when working for Federico Fellini. Valentina Cortese, who plays Severine, was in Fellini's ''Juliet of the Spirits'' (and likely really did use this technique, as Fellini recorded the sound to his films entirely in post-production, and had his actors count numbers to simulate the dialogue's mouth movements during shooting).

* TheCameo: Writer Graham Greene plays one of the insurance company representatives.

* UnknownCharacter: After [[spoiler:Alexandre]] dies, the film has to stop production until they find out how the insurance company will cover the accident. The insurance adjuster shows up and explains they can handle the cost of doing only a few days of re-shooting (not enough to replace the actor altogether). What Truffaut didn't know was that the insurance adjuster (who is uncredited in the film) was the famous author GrahamGreene. Greene was delighted to have the chance to actually appear in a film with Truffaut, whose work he admired, but Truffaut was disappointed that he didn't find out until later, as he admired Greene's work too.

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''Day for Night'', known originally in French as ''La Nuit Américaine'', is a 1973 film by French New Wave director [[FrancoisTruffaut François Truffaut]], dealing with the trials and tribulations of making a film named ''Meet Pamela'' (''Je vous présente Pamela'' in the original French), about a woman who has an affair with her father-in-law. However, every possible complication manages to appear, putting the film in jeopardy.

* CueCard: After Severine has had a bit too much to drink before shooting the scene where she confronts Alexandre over his furtive behaviour, her lines are written on cue cards pasted on various surfaces around the set.

* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Lots of affairs on the set of ''Meeting Pamela''.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech

* SpoiledBrat: Liliane calls Alphonse this during her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech before she rides off with her stunt man.

* ScheduleSlip: Discussed by the crew whenever an actors is not ready to do his/her scene.
* SerendipityWritesThePlot: Several times does the TroubledProduction force the crew to improvise and change the script to adapt to new circumstances on the set.

* CreatorBreakdown: Severine has one in front of the director, Alphonse and Julie also make scenes.

* LoveTriangle: The film within a film, ''Meet Pamela'', tells the tragic story of a love triangle between Alphonse, Pamela, and Alphonse's father.

* StraightGay: Alexandre.
* TitleDrop: Two for one! It's in a scene where Ferrand (who only speaks French) speaks to the stunt double (who only speaks English) through Julie. Ferrand drops the term "Nuit Américaine", which Julie translates into "Day for Night".

** Neatly summed up by one of the female members of the crew when talking about Liliane running off the set with the stuntman: "I'd leave a guy to make a movie, but I wouldn't leave a movie for a guy."

* UnknownCharacter: After [[spoiler:Alexandre]] dies, the film has to stop production until they find out how the insurance company will cover the accident. The insurance adjuster shows up and explains they can handle the cost of doing only a few days of re-shooting (not enough to replace the actor altogether). What Truffaut didn't know was that the insurance adjuster (who is uncredited in the film) was the famous author GrahamGreene. Greene was delighted to have the chance to actually appear in a film with Truffaut, whose work he admired, but Truffaut was disappointed that he didn't find out until later, he admired Greene's work too.

* AuthorAvatar: Ferrand for Truffaut, whose mother's maiden name was de Mont''ferrand'' and whose hearing also was impaired by his service in the army.

* RomanceOnTheSet: In-Universe, ''Day for Night'' is made of this trope. Alphonse bets his girlfriend Liliane as a script-girl so she can be with him during the production, she then falls in love with the stuntman and runs off, heartbroken Alphonse has a fling on the rebound with Julie, while a number of other members of the team also have affairs with each other. Hilariously {{Lampshaded}} in the rant of Mme. Lajoie, who is only on the set to watch her husband so he doesn't engage in any hanky-panky.

* RomanceOnTheSet: In-Universe, ''Day for Night'' is made of this trope. Alphonse bets his girlfriend Liliane as a script-girl so she can be with him during the production, she then falls in love with the stuntman and runs off, heartbroken Alphonse has a fling on the rebound with Julie, while a number of other members of the team also have affairs with each other. Hilariously lampshaded by the rant of Mme. Lajoie (who is only on the set to watch her husband so he doesn't engage in any hanky-panky.

''Day for Night'', known originally in French as ''La Nuit Américaine'', is a 1973 film by French New Wave director [[FrancoisTruffaut François Truffaut]], dealing with the trials and tribulations of making a film named ''Meet Pamela'' (''Je vous présente Pamela'' in the original French), about a woman who has an affair with his father-in-law. However, every possible complication manages to appear, putting the film in jeopardy.

** When Severine cannot remember her lines, she suggests reciting numbers and dubbing her lines in post-production, as she did when working for Federico Fellini. Valentina Cortese, who plays Severine, was in Fellini's ''Juliet of the Spirits'' (and likely really did use this technique, as Fellini recorded his films without sound and had his actors count numbers to simulate the dialogue's mouth movements).

** Jean-Pierre Leaud's work in the [[TheAdventuresofAntoineDoinel Antoine Doinel cycle]] is constantly slyly hinted at. One of the montages has him peeking over and folding a newspaper, a reference to the private detective scenes in ''Stolen Kisses.'' Alphonse, Leaud's character, takes another acting job in which his character will fall in love with a Japanese woman, just like in ''Bed and Board.'' Add both of these up and throw in a comment about Alphonse's ''rough childhood'' and you've got a very, very subtexty connection to ''The 400 Blows''.

** Severine mentions reciting numbers when she cannot remember her lines and dubbing them in post-production while starring in a film by Federico Fellini. Valentina Cortese, who plays Severine, was in Fellini's ''Juliet of the Spirits''.

* DirectedByCastMember: Director François Truffaut plays Ferrand, the director of ''Meet Pamela''.

* HideYourPregnancy: In a scene where Janelle, the woman who is the secretary of the Father-in-law, gets out of a pool to take a letter for him, the crew discover she's just barely pregnant, and by the time she comes back in six weeks for the main part of her scenes, she will be obviously several months pregnant. They have to figure out a way to cover the issue, but they can't simply have her seen as pregnant as it will complicate the story, the audience will think her boss knocked her up.
* ManChild: Alphonse.
* MayDecemberRomance: Julie and her husband, the doctor.

* MuseAbuse: As soon as Julie ends opening herself to Ferrand about her problems, he has already incorporated her turmoil in the script.

* TitleDrop: Two for one! It's in a scene where Ferrand (who only speaks French) speaks to the stunt double (who only speaks English) through Julie. Ferrand drops the term "Nuit Americaine", which Julie translates into "Day for Night".

* YouFailFilmSchoolForever: [[AvertedTrope Thankfully averted]].

''Day for Night'', known originally in French as ''La Nuit Américaine'', is a 1973 film by French New Wave director [[FrancoisTruffaut François Truffaut]], dealing with the trials and tribulations of making a film named ''Meet Pamela'', about a woman who has an affair with his father-in-law. However, every possible complication manages to appear, putting the film in jeopardy.

* ActorExistenceFailure: In-universe example: [[spoiler:Alexandre.]]
* ArtShift: Ferrand’s dreams of when he was a young boy are in [[DeliberatelyMonochrome B&W]].

* CueCard
* CuteKitten
* DirectedByCastMember
* HideYourPregnancy: a scene where Janelle, the woman who is the secretary of the Father-in-law, gets out of a pool to take a letter for him. Then the crew discover she's just barely pregnant, and by the time she comes back in six weeks for the main part of her scenes, she will be obviously several months pregnant. They have to figure out a way to cover the issue, but they can't simply have her seen as pregnant as it will complicate the story, the audience will think her boss knocked her up.

** Jean-Pierre Leaud's work in the [[TheAdventuresofAntoineDoinel Antoine Doinel cycle]] is constantly slyly hinted at. One of the montages has him peeking over and folding a newspaper, a reference to the private detective scenes in ''Stolen Kisses.'' Alphonse, Leaud's character, takes another acting job in which his character will fall in love with a Japanese woman, just like in ''Bed and Board.'' Add both of these up and throw in a comment about Alphonse's ''rough childhood'' and you've got a very, very subtexty connection to ''The 400 Blows''

* ShoutOut: To ''The Rules Of The Game,'' the Renoir film which inspired ''Day for Night,'' which gets title-dropped and quoted outright.

* TitleDrop: Two for one! It's in a scene where Ferrand (who only speaks French) speaks to the stunt double (who only speaks English) through Julie. Ferrand drops the term "Nuit Americaine," which Julie translates into "Day for Night."
* TroubledProduction: In-universe example.
* UnknownCharacter: After [[spoiler:Alexandre]] dies, the film has to stop production until they find out how the insurance company will cover the accident. The insurance adjuster shows up and explains they can handle the cost of doing a few days of reshooting. What Truffaut didn't know was that the insurance adjuster (who is uncredited in the film) was the famous author GrahamGreene. Greene was delighted to have the chance to actually appear in a film with Truffaut, whose work he admired, but Truffaut was disappointed that he didn't find out until later, he admired Greene's work too.

''Day for Night'', known originally in French as ''La Nuit Américaine'', is a film of French New Wave director [[FrancoisTruffaut François Truffaut]], dealing with the trials and tribulations of making a film named ''Meet Pamela'', about a woman who has an affair with his father-in-law. However, every possible complication manages to appear, putting the film in jeopardy.