What the Day Owes the Night 2012

From a quiet wheat field near Oran in the 1930s, the film follows Younes as he grows up through decades of change, tracing a life shaped by both hardship and hope. The narrative moves from the countryside to the city, painting a portrait of a country torn by heavy losses and political strain, including the battles and upheavals surrounding Mers El-Kebir and the Algerian War. Alongside the sweeping historical scope, a quiet, unfolding love story threads through the years, centered on Émilie, a young French girl whose family has also made Algeria their home, and who becomes a key part of Younes’s world.

When a devastating blaze consumes the family’s wheat field, set by Cheikh henchmen who want to seize the land because of debts, the dream of a fertile harvest is crushed. The expropriation by the colonial administration follows, pushing the family toward ruin and forcing a brutal relocation. With little money left, they move to Oran, where Issa struggles with exhausting, low-paying jobs that wear him down physically and emotionally. The weight of these hard times reframes their future, and Issa’s years of strain help push Younes toward a new familial bond.

In Oran, Younes is taken in by Mohamed, his elder uncle, after Issa decides to place him in Mohamed’s care. Mohamed, a pharmacist, has his own complex history, including a marriage that connects him to Madeleine, a Pied-Noir piano teacher who becomes a pivotal figure in Younes’s life. Madeleine, unable to have children of her own, embraces Younes as her own, shaping his upbringing with warmth, discipline, and the lure of music. It is through these piano lessons and everyday lessons alike that Younes’s world widens, and it is here that the seeds of a lasting friendship begin to sprout with Emilie, whose presence in Algeria brings a new, hopeful dimension to his life.

As the family settles into their new life, a new tension emerges: Mohamed attracts attention from the French police because of his political positions, a danger that compounds the precariousness of their new home. To protect his family, Mohamed decides to leave Oran for a quieter, smaller town called Rio Salado, a place where a sizable pieds-noirs community, including people with Spanish backgrounds, has carved out a life. In Rio Salado, the family starts anew, and Jonas—renamed in Madeleine’s care—from Younes’s past becomes a central presence as he forges friendships that will echo through the years.

There, Jonas encounters three children from the local community who will become close companions: the boy Jean-Christophe, the lively Fabrice, and the thoughtful Simon. These friendships anchor Younes in a place far from the land and family he first knew, offering companionship and a sense of belonging in a world that is constantly shifting beneath his feet. The story emphasizes how resilience, memory, and connection sustain a person as history continues to unfold around them.

Many years pass, and life in Rio Salado keeps its quiet rhythms until Emilie’s arrival again shifts the balance. The reintroduction of Emilie, the Franco-Algerian connection she represents, and the renewed closeness with Younes reveal how love and memory persist across time and borders. Through these relationships and the ever-present backdrop of Algeria’s turbulent past, the film traces a life that moves with the tides of history, never fully escaping its upheavals but finding meaning through the people who stay by your side.

Notes on the cast and connections:

• Younes

• Émilie

• Mohamed

• Madeleine

• Jonas

• Issa

• Jean-Christophe

• Fabrice

• Simon