DVD Review: Casting a light on Truffaut’s classic ‘Day for Night’

There are lots of movies about making movies but none catalogs the nuts and bolts of the process better than “Day for Night” (1973). Francois Truffaut, who directed and co-wrote, also stars as a beleaguered director watching his initial vision of a film mutate in response to all sorts of setbacks, miscalculations and inevitable personal conflicts on the set. By the end, it’s clear why there are so many bad films; the real wonder is that any good ones make it to the screen at all.

We never know precisely what the movie-within-a-movie is about, nor is it important. All the real action is on the set. Props are misplaced, shooting schedules get bollixed, animals don’t act on cue. Eventually, the worst happens: with only a few crucial scenes unshot, a key actor is killed in a car accident. Although fate generally fouls up the proceedings, it also sometimes improves the film, necessity forcing the filmmakers into unexpected inventiveness.

Criterion’s new edition is not only an excellent transfer; it also has as extensive a group of supplements as can probably be crammed onto one Blu-ray — roughly two hours worth. Many date from 2003. (Perhaps created for an earlier video release?) These include scholar Annette Insdorf talking about the movie; and interviews with editor Yann Dedit and actors Jacqueline Bisset, Nathalie Baye, Bernard Menez and Dani. Also included, from 1972 and 1973, are interviews with Truffaut and actor Jean-Pierre Aumont, as well as the short “Truffaut: A View from the Inside” and several other archival snippets.

Produced specifically for this new release are interviews with cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn and assistant editor Martine Barraque. Filmmaker :: kogonada provides an 11-minute visual essay (much as he did for Criterion’s release of Bergman’s “Cries and Whispers”). Most entertaining of the new stuff is 20 minutes of professor Dudley Andrew, explaining the role of “Day for Night” in the bitter split between Truffaut and longtime colleague Jean-Luc Godard.

Day for Night (Criterion, Blu-ray, $39.95; DVD, 2 discs, $29.95)

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).