The Last Metro | 
| Director: Francois Truffaut
Actors: Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Jean Poiret, Andrea Ferreol, Paulette Dubost
Studio: Criterion Collection, The
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 32791
Format: Black & White, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: French (Original Language), German (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6302919665
UPC: 037429057834
EAN: 9786302919660
ASIN: 6302919665
Theatrical Release Date: February 19, 1981
Release Date: September 3, 1996
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Francois Truffaut again tackles the elusive nature of creativity and the elusive creation in this thoughtful, sumptuous, 1980 film. Nominated for the Best Foreign Language film Oscar, and a winner of various Cesars, The Last Metro is a tale of the theater in occupied France during World War II. Marion Steiner (Catherine Deneuve) manages the Theatre Montmarte in the stead of her Jewish husband, director Lucas Steiner (Heinz Bennent). He has purportedly fled France but is really hiding out in the basement of the theater. The one hope to save the Montmarte is a new play starring the dashing Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu). The attraction between Marion and Bernard is palpable, and as usual Truffaut creates tension and drama from even the most casual of occurrences. The theme of the director locked away while his lover and his creation are appropriated by others makes for interesting Truffaut study, but first and foremost this is a well-spun romance. --Keith Simanton
Description
It is Paris, 1942, under the German Occupation, and a successful Jewish theatrical director (Heinz Bennent) is forced to go underground, leaving the running of the theater to his wife (Catherine Deneuve). With her husband in hiding, she must contend with a vicious, pro-Nazi theater critic as well as face her deepening feelings for leading man Gerard Depardieu. Digitally remastered under the supervision of cinematographer Nestor Almendros.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 The show must go on! May 22, 2006
Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Despite the restrictions of the occupied French by the [...] boot, a Parisian theatrical company decides to continue.
A bold and striking statement in favor of the creative liberty in those opprobrious years of oppression and censure.
One of the smarter icon movies of this unforgettable director. Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu make each one a superb tour de force performance.
 Minor Truffaut, but quite enjoyable April 23, 2006
Trevor Willsmer (London, England)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Although Truffaut had another two films in him, in many ways The Last Metro looks as if it was planned as his last movie, even down to filming a deleted scene (included on the European DVDs but not this NTSC version) where a dying director tries to convince Catherine Deneuve's heroine to star in his last film. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it sums up his life and work so much as it feels as if the somewhat half-hearted screenplay has been rushed into production without being entirely thought through. Not that its bad - indeed parts of it are quite enjoyable - more that it tends to drift by like exactly the kind of `well-made play' that he once attacked, with the romance barely developed and much of the interest coming from characters on the sidelines, such as Jean-Louis Richard's critic, collaborator and anti-Semitic propagandist. At it's best it comes over like a theatrical variation on Day For Night set against the German occupation (indeed, Richard was DFN's co-writer), without ever quite matching that film's emotional rollercoaster ride.
 A Satisying Movie of Choices and Adult Feelings January 20, 2005
C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a first-class romantic, suspensful and humane movie. The Germans have occupied Paris and there are informers everywhere. Marion Steiner (Catherine Deneuve), a famous actress, has taken over the management of the theater her husband, Lucas Steiner, an equally famous director, has left. Steiner is a Jew and disappeared shortly after the Germans took over. For the next production Marion Steiner hires a young actor, Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu), who loves women and who gradually comes to love Marion.
There are secrets everywhere. Lucas Steiner is hiding and living in the basement of the theater, protected by his wife. He directs the new play through notes to his wife and discussions in the late evening when she visits him. Granger is an member of the resistance who could bring disaster to the theater if he is caught. Marion Steiner is devoted to her husband, but feelings for Granger slowly begin to appear, and are not unnoticed by her husband. All the while life in Paris under the Nazis goes on, the play is prepared and rehearsed, Jewish members of the company are protected or caught or flee. An odious, collaborating journalist and theater reviewer uses his contacts and influence to try to arrange a relationship with Marion. Eventually Bernard leaves the theater for active fighting.
This is something of a romantic movie of choices. At the end of the movie, the Germans are fleeing Paris. Bernard has returned and a new play starring Marion and Bernard is a great success. Lucas is spotted by the audience at the rear of a box and they stand to applaud him. Bernard and Marion bring him to the stage to join them in receiving the ovation for the play. Then Marion moves between the two men, holds their hands, and the three of them stand smiling while the applause roars on. And that's the end. This is, in my view, a very satisfying movie of theater life, of the occupation, and of three people who manage to find their way.
I think the DVD looks great, with many of the scenes having a dark, warm look about them.
Truffault can be a lot of fun October 10, 2003
Adrienne Shirley (Hartsdale, NY)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Francois Truffault, who has always terrified me as a true "art" director, comes across in this film with warmth and humor; not only that, one get to learn a little about Paris under the Nazis and how people "coped." Catherine Deneuve, wife of the director and lead lady, is gorgeous as she balances the needs of her cranky Jewish husband in hiding (Heinz Bennent; he's continuing to direct by listening in to rehearsals through the pipes) and those of her handsome leading man (Gerard Depardieu), whose only way of coming on seems to be to grasp a pretty woman by the hand, gaze into it and murmur, "I seem to see two women here." For a movie about a sad and terrible time, there is a lot of strength, here, and I found Truffault, for some bizarre reason, easy to understand.
 Warning: subtitles cannot be turned off April 30, 2002
36 out of 58 found this review helpful
Zone 1 Francophones beware: the english subtitles are on
the video layer and cannot be turned off. I suppose this
might save the production cost of redoing subtitles for
DVD, but it would be nice if this fact were mentioned in
the technical info. Completely unacceptable, hence the
automatic one-star rating.
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