​François Truffaut's "Day for Night" at Bernardsville Library

Join us to watch “Day for Night" (1973) directed by François Truffaut at Bernardsville Public Library on Friday, May 25 at 2:00 pm. It’s an hilarious send-up of the absurdity and all-consuming nature of making movies. In one scene, a woman breathlessly says, "It’s great to be in Nice with all its restaurants.” Her boyfriend, in shock, “You must be joking! Don’t you know that Nice has 37 movies? We can grab a sandwich.”

The film chronicles the production of "Je Vous Présente Paméla" (Meet Pamela), a clichéd melodrama starring an aging screen icon, a former diva, a young heart-throb, and a British actress who is recovering from both a nervous breakdown and the controversy stemming from her marriage to her much older doctor. In between are several small vignettes chronicling the stories of the crew members and the director.

Roger Ebert wrote of the film in 1997, "Truffaut’s film is a poem in praise of making movies. Not good movies, not bad movies - movies. It takes place at the Victorine Studio in Nice, in the south of France, which has produced movies since the silent days. Truffaut himself plays Ferrand, the director of the movie…he isn’t intended to be a director of ambitious movies (like Truffaut), but a technician, in love with the process."

Bernardsville Library's movie series is funded by gifts to the Friends of the Bernardsville Library. The movies are shown on the fourth Friday of the month at 2:00 pm. They are selected for cultural enrichment and for appeal to a wide variety of tastes and interests in the community. Viewers are encouraged to linger after the films to discuss them. Books and other supporting materials are recommended during the discussions. Next month's film will be shown on Friday, June 22 at 2:00 pm. It’s the movie made from Senator John McCain’s favorite book, Ernest Hemingway’s "For Whom the Bell Tolls," starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.

There is no charge to attend the movies; advance sign-up is requested, but not required. To register online go to www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link from Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.