Francois Truffaut’s loving and humorous tribute to the communal insanity of making a movie.
The film details the making of a family drama called Meet Pamela about the tragedy that follows when a young French man introduces his parents to his new British wife. But things don’t go smoothly.
One of the central actresses is continually drunk due to family problems, while the other is prone to emotional instability, and the male lead (Truffaut regular Jean-Pierre Leaud) starts to act erratically when his intermittent romance with the fickle script girl begins to fail. In addition to all this personal drama, the film is besieged by technical problems, from difficult tracking shots to stubborn animal actors. The inspiration for future satires of movie-making.
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER
Best Foreign Language Film, 1973
“Conjures the ambient, dizzy sexiness of movie artifice”
In French
with English subtitles
This film is showing as part of the Chiltern Film Society season. Showings are open to non-members. Seating is unreserved – simply purchase a ticket and choose your seat when you arrive.
