A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.
Jacqueline Bisset
Julie Baker
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Alphonse
François Truffaut
Directeur Ferrand
Jean-Pierre Aumont
Alexandre
Valentina Cortese
Severine
Dani
Liliane
Alexandra Stewart
Stacey
Jean Champion
Bertrand
Niké Arrighi
Odile
Nathalie Baye
Joelle
David Markham
Doctor Nelson
Bernard Ménez
Bernard
Jean-François Stévenin
Jean-François
Walter Bal
Walter
Gaston Joly
Lajoie
Zénaïde Rossi
Madame Lajoie
Pierre Zucca
Photograph
Marc Boyle
Stuntman
Marcel Berbert
Französischer Versicherungsmann
Xavier Saint-Macary
Alexandres Liebhaber
Maurice Seveno
Graham Greene
Insurance company representative
Director, Screenplay
François Truffaut
Writer
Suzanne Schiffman
Writer
Jean-Louis Richard
May 27, 2023
7
It's quite hard to succinctly review this Truffaut comedy - there is just so much going on. Essentially, Jacqueline Bisset ("Julie") is brought to Nice to star in a movie about a British woman who is married to a Frenchman. She comes to meet his family and promptly falls in love with her husband's father and so leaves him to shack up with his dad. It turns out, as the production progresses that the producer "Bertrand" (Jean Champion) and the director "Ferrand" (Truffaut himself) have to deal with an whole gamut of issues as the cast - all assembled in a small hotel - come with more baggage than the Queen Mary. "Julie" is recovering from a failed marriage and a nervous breakdown; "Séverine" (Valentina Cortese) is having an affair - but with a bottle, and Jean-Pierre Léaud steals the film as the petulant and high-maintenance "Alphonse". It reminded me a little of Fellini's "8½" from ten years earlier, another behind the scenes as a movie is made story - but it could hardly be more different. Here, the cast and the crew could not have been more dysfunctional - a trait of the creative, I believe - but in the end somehow or other there is a chance the film might actually get made! It is good fun, and the odd contribution from Jean-Pierre Aumont help keep this 2 hour extravaganza moving along entertainingly. Georges Delerue's jaunty score compliments the lovely open-ness of this production, and I really enjoyed this film.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
French
Budget:
$700,000.00
Revenue:
$850,000.00