• Title: La nuit américaine
• Year: 1973
• Duration: 1h 56m
• Rating: 8
• Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Summary La nuit américaine (1973)

A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.

The shooting of "Je vous presente Pamela" (may I introduce Pamela) begins. This is the story of en English married wife falling in love and running away with the father of her French husband. Will be simultaneously shown the shooting, the behavior of the people (including the technical team) on the set, and a part of their private life (a factor of complication)...

In Nice, the Studios La Victorine is producing the film "Je Vous Presente Pamela", about a French man that marries the English Pamela in England and brings his wife to France to introduce her to his parents. However, his father and Pamela fall in love with each other and she leaves her husband to live with him. The producer Bertrand and the director Ferrand invite British Julie Baker, who had a nervous breakdown and married her Dr. Nelson, to the role of Pamela. During shooting, the cast and crew are lodged in the Hotel Atlantic and Bertrand and Ferrand have to deal with problems with the stars Severine, an aging actress with drinking problems that affect her performance; the immature, spoiled and needy Alphonse; Julie that is emotionally unstable. But in the end, they succeed in completing the film.

On location in Nice's Victorine Studios, the committed French filmmaker and François Truffaut's alter-ego, Ferrand, struggles to make an all-star melodrama called Je Vous Présente Paméla. The screenplay is straightforward: By a twist of fate, a newlywed woman falls head-over-heels in love with her father-in-law, and complications ensue. However, as Ferrand tries to cope with myriads of professional and personal crises, the ambitious project seems doomed right from the start. Now, Ferrand must reconcile neurotic, sensitive, or insecure actors on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and to overcome increasingly challenging technical difficulties, having the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head at every moment. And, in this vibrant, hectic microcosm of movie-making, passions, whims, and character flaws continue to plague the production. Can Ferrand meet the deadline?

A film company at work. Actors arrive and depart; liaisons develop. Julie, the beautiful but possibly unstable lead, is recovering from a breakdown, aided by an older physician, her new husband. Alphonse is insecure, he babbles. When his fiance exits with a stunt man, he threatens to quit. Julie must convince him to stay. Alexandre, a consummate pro on the set, runs back and forth to the airport hoping a certain young man will visit. Severine, no longer young, hits the bottle and covers blown lines with emotional outbursts. At the center is Ferrand, the writer director, who must make constant decisions, answer a stream of questions, and deliver the film on schedule.

Synopsis La nuit américaine (1973)