Overview
A poignant tale of love and loss set against the backdrop of a country in turmoil.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- melancholic
- sweeping
- romantic
- romantic drama night
- historical cinema evening
What critics said
Audience reception is favorable, with critics and viewers broadly responding to the film's sweeping romantic drama and historical setting.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Jonas and Émilie's relationship unfolds amid the political and social conflicts troubling 1930s Algeria and its later wartime rupture.
Younes is placed in his uncle's care, renamed Jonas, and raised among the Rio Salado youths while navigating multiple communal loyalties.
The story begins with Younes as a child in 1930s Oran and follows his maturation as conflicts transform the country.
The Algerian setting, Rio Salado social circle, and country-wide conflicts give the film an expansive regional and historical scale.
Films like What the Day Owes the Night, and why
The Last Metro
sweeping historical romance shaped by colonial conflict, divided loyalties, and national upheaval
Indochine
epic romantic melodrama set against the unraveling of French colonial power in North Africa
A Very Long Engagement
emotionally expansive period romance connecting intimate relationships to political violence and cultural fracture
Movie Details
- Director
- Alexandre Arcady
- Release Date
- 2012-09-12
- Runtime
- 162 min
- Rating
- 7.7 / 10 (250)
Cast
- Nora Arnezeder
- Fu'ad Aït Aattou
- Anne Parillaud
- Vincent Perez
- Anne Consigny
- Mohamed Fellag
- Nicolas Giraud
- Olivier Barthélémy
- Marine Vacth
- Matthias Van Khache
Common questions
- What is What the Day Owes the Night about?
- A sweeping Algerian historical romance follows a renamed boy whose enduring love is tested by the political convulsions of colonial society.
- What is What the Day Owes the Night like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of What the Day Owes the Night as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is What the Day Owes the Night violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in What the Day Owes the Night as moderate.
- What did critics think of What the Day Owes the Night?
- Audience reception is favorable, with critics and viewers broadly responding to the film's sweeping romantic drama and historical setting.
- Which films are like What the Day Owes the Night?
- Films with a similar feel include The Last Metro, Indochine, and A Very Long Engagement.
- How long is What the Day Owes the Night?
- What the Day Owes the Night runs 162 minutes.
