Back to trending
What the Day Owes the Night

What the Day Owes the Night

Drama · Romance · 2012

Algeria, the 1930s. Younes is nine years old when he is put in his uncle's care in Oran. Rebaptized Jonas, he grows up among the Rio Salado youths, with whom he becomes friends. Emilie is one of the gang; everyone is in love with her. A great love story develops between Jonas and Emilie, which is soon unsettled by the conflicts troubling the country.

Movie details

What the Day Owes the Night

2012 Drama · Romance 2h 42m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.7 / 10

Community rating

Algeria, the 1930s. Younes is nine years old when he is put in his uncle's care in Oran. Rebaptized Jonas, he grows up among the Rio Salado youths, with whom he becomes friends. Emilie is one of the gang; everyone is in love with her. A great love story develops between Jonas and Emilie, which is soon unsettled by the conflicts troubling the country.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over What the Day Owes the Night?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Two English Girls

Two English Girls

Drama · 1971

In the early 20th-century, Frenchman Claude meets Englishwoman Ann in Paris. Ann invites him to her family home, intending him for her sister Muriel. Claude falls for Muriel, but families demand year-long separation before approving marriage.

Mélo

Mélo

Drama · 1986

In 1920s Paris, violinists and lifelong friends Pierre Belcroix and Marcel Blanc are happy with their lives, although Marcel has become famous and Pierre has not. Pierre is married to Romaine, a stylish young flapper. However, Marcel meets and falls in love with her, which Marcel little suspects.

The Little Sister

The Little Sister

Drama · 2025

Fatima, 17, the youngest daughter of a French-Algerian family in a Paris suburb, leaves school for a prestigious prep class. She plays football, has a secret boyfriend, but hides that she loves women. In Paris, new freedoms clash with family tradition and faith, forcing her to find her own path.

My First Time

My First Time

Drama · 2012

Zachary is 20 years old. Dark and independent, he collects amorous conquests and school failure. Sarah is 18 years old. First class, fragile, she fills her emotional gaps with perfect control of his life. Nothing should close and yet, the year of the tank, for six months, they will live a love against which nothing can be, the true, the big one that marks a life forever.

More Than Ever

More Than Ever

Drama · 2022

Hélène, a 33-year-old woman from Bordeaux, France, lives happily as a couple with Mathieu, her husband of many years. Her life turns upside down the day she learns she has a rare lung disease. Thanks to a blog, she discovers Norway and decides to follow her instinct. Despite all the love she has for her life partner Mathieu, who is very supportive through her illness, she leaves him behind in France and will cross all Europe to Norway alone in search of a new path and to meet a blogger named Mister that she found on the internet.

Luna

Luna

Drama · 2018

A film in which the director captures the beautiful and accurate qualities of reality when building the energetic portrait of a 16-year-old girl immersed in the macho culture of urban suburban south-west France, just a stone’s throw away from the nearby countryside.

Private Fears in Public Places

Private Fears in Public Places

Drama · 2006

Seven lonely lives in Paris: a middle-aged estate agent who believes a colleague is sending messages in video tapes she loans him; his co-worker whose Bible is close at hand in times of stress; her late-night charge, an angry, nasty bedridden old man; his son, a patient bartender; the bartender's best patron, an ex-soldier who's lost his moorings while his fiancée looks for a large flat for them; and, the estate agent's much younger sister, who answers personals and waits in cafés with a red flower pinned on her jacket. Will any connect? Can open hearts trump fears?

Life in a Year

Life in a Year

Drama · 2020

A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.

Love Affair(s)

Love Affair(s)

Drama · 2020

Vacations in the French countryside. Daphne, three months pregnant, finds herself alone to welcome Maxime, her boyfriend François’ cousin. François had to leave in a hurry for Paris to cover for a sick colleague. For four days, while waiting for his return, Daphne and Maxime get to know each other and share very intimate stories that bring them closer...

The Magic of Ordinary Days

The Magic of Ordinary Days

Drama · 2005

Pregnant out of wedlock, an educated young woman is pressured by her father into an arranged marriage with a lonely farmer in this drama set during WWII.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Alexandre Arcady

Written by

Daniel Saint-Hamont · Blandine Stintzy · Alexandre Arcady

Nora Arnezeder

Nora Arnezeder

Émilie

Fu'ad Aït Aattou

Fu'ad Aït Aattou

Younès / Jonas

Anne Parillaud

Anne Parillaud

Madame Cazenave

Vincent Perez

Vincent Perez

Juan Rucillio

Anne Consigny

Anne Consigny

Madeleine

Mohamed Fellag

Mohamed Fellag

Mohamed

Nicolas Giraud

Nicolas Giraud

Fabrice

Court is in session

Put What the Day Owes the Night on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.