the film/The Film
In class the other day I was initially frustrated with a fellow student’s suggestion that Truffaut’s Day for Night provides an accurate portrayal of the process of production. It goes without saying that I’m generally not particularly fond of this type of argument because it seems a little too accessible and ignores some of the other, more significant, implications (i.e. a new perspective on temporality, vision, the politics of finance, etc.). But, I must admit, despite initial pretenses, I’m buying into certain parts of this reading. Though I have little experience “on the set,” I’d like to think that Truffaut has really done the set justice. Furthermore, I like to think that Truffaut is doing a particular type of film justice (in a very backhanded way). Here, of course, as Professor Shaviro argued in class, Day for Night can be read as a film about a film or, more accurately, a film about the Hollywood film; a kind of behind the scenes exploration of cinematic production and product. When I think of the type of set that the student was on I think of it as being prototypically Hollywood. I don’t really think of this as an insult (but perhaps it is), I am just trying to get at Truffaut’s awareness of difference: Truffaut realizes the French New Wave film style and shooting practice is ultimately very different from that of the Hollywood film. This is exactly what Truffaut is commenting on. Although I think that my fellow student (sorry I don’t know your name) was alluding to the effectiveness with which Truffaut replicates the set, he misses both the effectiveness with which Truffaut renders the Hollywood film, and Truffaut’s awareness of certain aforementioned differences.
Partially, Day for Night is a film about the type of film one assumes Truffaut would never have made, even if, in a strange sense, he is doing this throughout the film. And, I would argue that Truffaut is trying to do something a little more significant than to simply convey to the viewer how complicated it is to make a movie; how many demands must be satisfied in the course of production; how much trouble a death can bring to the set, or whatever. I think that by emulating the style of Hollywood production, while still distancing this production (considering that it is a film within another film) and maintaining a safe distance, Truffaut is able to give a more critical perspective on the Hollywood film and the Hollywood production style. Thus, in a way, this is not only the making of the film but the making of The Film – the generic formula film one experiences with dominant Hollywood cinema.
More on this a little later…
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