The american night

The American Night (La nuit américaine) is a 1973 French film directed by and starring François Truffaut, alongside Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud in the leading roles.

The story narrates the tribulations of a film director during the shooting of a film.

The film takes its title from the cinematographic technique of the same name, which consists of applying a dark filter to the camera lens to simulate shooting at night.

Plot

In a film studio in Nice, the shooting of the film Je Vous Présente Paméla is being prepared, a melodrama full of commonplaces. The actors are Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) and Séverine (Valentina Cortese), both stars of a bygone era, Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a young and temperamental heartthrob with the air of a divo, and a British actress, Julie Baker (Jacqueline Bisset)

Intertwined in the script are situations and conflicts in the lives of the actors and the crew: Julie Baker, unstable due to a nervous breakdown and married to a doctor much older than her; Alphonse, who threatens to quit filming when his girlfriend leaves him for one of the technicians; Alexandre, the veteran, very professional in his scenes, but nervous and impatient to pick up a boy at the airport; the veteran star Séverine, who has a problem with alcohol and forgets her dialogues (in a memorable scene in the film she misses the door several times in two minutes).

The development of the filming is shown through scenes between the technical staff and the director Ferrand (François Truffaut), who work intensely to deliver the finished film in the stipulated time.

Cast

• Jacqueline Bisset - Julie.
• Valentina Cortese - Severine
• Dani... Liliane
• Alexandra Stewart - Stacey
• Jean-Pierre Aumont - Alexandre
• Jean Champion - Betrand
• Jean-Pierre Léaud - Alphonse
• François Truffaut - Director Ferrand
• Nathalie Baye - Joelle
• David Markham - Doctor Nelson
• Zénaïde Rossi - Madame Lajoie
• Xavier Saint-Macary - Christian

Awards and nominations

• The film won the Oscar for the best non-English-speaking film 1974, and got three nominations: the best director, the best cast actress (Valentina Cortese), and the best original script.
• BAFTA 1974 Award: the best address (François Truffaut), the best movie, and the best secondary actress (Valentina Cortese)
• NYFCC Award 1974: Best Director, Best Film and Best Secondary Actress (Valentina Cortese)
• NSFC Award 1974: Best Director, Best Film and Best Secondary Actress (Valentina Cortese)
• Critics Prize 1974: to the best film (Francois Truffaut)