Rating: 3.5/5
François Truffaut plays Ferrand, a director working on a melodrama called Meet Pamela about a woman falling in love with her husband’s father. The film follows Meet Pamela’s production and the melodrama behind the scenes.
Going into the movie, I expected its meta nature to be less conventional, having only seen Trauffaut’s earlier films. However, as I reflect on it, I understand why he held back on experimental filmmaking choices. The title refers to the filmmaking process where nighttime shots are filmed during the day with a filter to make it look like night, which hints at the film’s desire to look at the artificiality of filmmaking.
Throughout the film, we see characters whose lives are in tumultuous states—trouble with alcohol, cheating lovers, nervous breakdowns, and so on. But the crew is dedicated to making Meet Pamela, so whenever anyone threatens to leave, another crew member will come to rally them back to the cause. Trauffaut’s Ferrand states outright that people like them are only happy when working and that their personal lives suffer as a result.
I'd dump a guy for a film, but never a film for a guy!
Seeing this at the Rialto with the film club was nice because they appreciated the film’s sense of humor and made me feel more comfortable laughing. The movie has several one-liners that I enjoyed. I also liked how the film would go out of its way to stop and look at anything that showed a director’s name—Truffaut is making homage to the comfort movies of his upbringing and wants everyone to know that he knows who he is stealing from.
Oh, and there’s a scene where they try to get a kitten to act, and everyone (myself included) was losing it over how adorable it was.
Knowing what the film is now, I may revisit it and score it higher. But as it stands, the film’s slight nature left me wanting something more.