Day for Night (1973)

A love letter to the chaos of making a movie, with François Truffaut himself playing Ferrand, the director trying to finish a melodrama while his cast falls apart. Jacqueline Bisset plays a fragile British star and Jean-Pierre Léaud a lovesick young actor, and the backstage romances are more gripping than the film they are shooting. The title is the French name for the old trick of shooting night scenes in daylight, and the film is full of that kind of affectionate trade secret. If 8½ is the director's nightmare, this is the crew's warm, gossipy daydream. It is a gentler, more accessible place to start.