In a montage alternating with moments of Nigel Rogers' interpretation of the most beautiful passages from "Orpheus," the opera by Striggio and Monteverdi, La Nuit Claire is an evocation of the celebrated myth, within which images of the love between its two modern protagonists, Anne and Julien, are inscribed. "Off the beaten path of the cinema of current consumption, the release of Hanoun's very beautiful film creates a veritable cinematic event.... The intentions of this auteur are multiple: the illustration of a myth, the 'renewal' and 'actualization' of this myth, reflection on the role of art, of cinema, of the spectator. The subtitle of the film is explicit ('a film is a film'), its title (La Nuit Claire) could be a definition of cinema. Sometimes the protagonists, who move within the frame, look at the spectators. Orpheus-Julien is sometimes on the screen, implicated in one of the actions of the film (the mythical or the actual) or shown as a spectator rising at the exit of a small projection room. The gazes multiply, intersect...." --La Saison Cinematographique