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Drama, Romance  •  2012  •  162 min

What the Day Owes the Night (2012)

What the Day Owes the Night poster

What the Day Owes the Night (2012)

Rating & Dimensions

Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Leans Progressive
Political: Leans Left
Diversity: Moderate
Family Values: Strongly Traditional
Christianity: Positive
Islam: Positive
Judaism: Positive
Viewer Rating
7.7

Overview

What the Day Owes the Night is a sweeping romance and historical drama set in 1930s French Algeria. Centered on a boy renamed Jonas and his complex relationships amid political unrest, it balances intimate human stories against the backdrop of the Algerian War of Independence. The Leans Progressive rating arises from its unflinching critique of colonialism and exploration of self-determination, while affirming traditional family values and religious respect without overt modern ideological overtones.

Starring Cast

Nora Arnezeder  •   Fu'ad Aït Aattou  •   Anne Parillaud

Detailed Bias Analysis

Analyzing...
Leans Progressive

Primary

Political: Leans Left
Confidence: High

The film's narrative, set against the Algerian War of Independence, critiques colonialism and champions self-determination, aligning with progressive values through its exploration of national identity and the human cost of conflict.

Diversity: Moderate
Confidence: High

The film features a diverse cast that naturally reflects its historical setting in colonial Algeria, without explicit DEI-driven recasting. Its narrative, while primarily a romance, is set against a backdrop of colonial tensions, offering a subtle critique of traditional power structures without making it the central theme.

Secondary

Family Values: Strongly Traditional
Confidence: High

The film strongly portrays and endorses traditional family values, emphasizing lifelong committed love, respected parental authority, strong multigenerational bonds, and the family's embeddedness within a supportive community, all set against a backdrop where traditional gender roles and cultural religious elements are present without critique.

Christianity: Positive
Confidence: High

The film sympathetically portrays the pied-noir community, whose cultural identity is rooted in French (and implicitly Christian) heritage. The narrative humanizes these characters, showing their lives, struggles, and eventual displacement with nuance, without critiquing their faith.

Islam: Positive
Confidence: High

Islam is central to the cultural and personal identity of the Algerian protagonist and many other characters. The film portrays the faith as an integral part of Algerian life, depicting its adherents with sympathy and respect, especially in the context of their struggle for independence.

Judaism: Positive
Confidence: High

The film portrays the Jewish community in Algeria with respect and nuance, depicting their integration into society and their experiences amidst the colonial conflict and subsequent displacement. Jewish characters are shown with dignity and humanity.

LGBTQ: N/A
Confidence: High

The film 'What the Day Owes the Night' does not feature any identifiable LGBTQ+ characters or themes. Its narrative centers on a heterosexual romance and the historical context of French Algeria, without exploring queer identities or experiences within its plot or character arcs.

Trans: N/A
Confidence: High

The film 'What the Day Owes the Night' does not feature any identifiable transgender characters or themes. Its narrative focuses on a historical romance set in French Algeria, exploring themes of love, family, and colonial history without incorporating transgender-specific elements. For example, the central love story and supporting characters are not depicted as transgender.

Female Combat: N/R

The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.

Gender Swap: No
Confidence: High

The film is an adaptation of Yasmina Khadra's novel "Ce que le jour doit à la nuit." All major characters, including Younes/Jonas and Émilie, maintain their established genders from the source material in the screen adaptation.

Race Swap: No
Confidence: High

The film adapts a novel set in French Algeria, featuring characters of both Algerian Arab and French Pied-Noir backgrounds. The casting of major characters aligns with their established racial and ethnic descriptions in the source material, with no instances of a character canonically established as one race being portrayed as a different race.

Hinduism: N/A
Confidence: High

Not depicted in the film.

Viewer Rating Breakdown

7.7

Viewer Rating

Combines user and critic ratings from four sources

User Ratings

IMDB logo
7.8
The Movie Database logo
7.6

Critic Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes logo
N/A
Metacritic logo
N/A

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