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Amazon.co.uk Review
François Truffaut again tackles the elusive nature of creativity and creation in his thoughtful, sumptuous 1980 film The Last Metro. Nominated for the Best Foreign Language film Oscar, and a winner of various Césars, The Last Metro is set 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 in the basement of the theatre. The one hope to save the Montmarte is a new play starring the dashing Bernard Granger (Gérard 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, Amazon.com
Synopsis
Francois Truffaut, whose Day For Night explored the world of filmmaking, now turns to the stage in this story of a small theatre company during the German occupation of France. Marion Steiner (Catherine Deneuve), the theatre's owner, is desperately trying to keep both the troupe and Lucas (Heinz Bennet), her Jewish husband, alive. To do this, she's staging a new play, which must be successful if she is to maintain the theatre. Not only is this an artistic imperative--the building also serves as a refuge for Lucas--but just as the actors begin their rehearsals, an anti-Semitic journalist ensconces himself in the theatre, creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity. Will he discover Lucas's hideaway...or the truth about the political affiliations of Bernard (Gerard Depardieu), the group's lead actor?
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
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 Tartan PAL DVD) 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.
The transfer is good and the extras on Tartan's original DVD are interesting - 2 contemporary interviews with Truffaut bemoaning the film's 'failure' (despite it's box-office and critical success), footage from the Cesar Awards, trailer and audio commentary by Jean-Pierre Azema and Gerard Depardieu. As with other Truffaut titles previously issued by Tartan, the new Cinema Club DVD drops most of that version's extras but does retain the audio commentary and the trailer, but you'd be better off tracking down the deleted Tartan disc.
The transfer is good and the extras on Tartan's original DVD are interesting - 2 contemporary interviews with Truffaut bemoaning the film's 'failure' (despite it's box-office and critical success), footage from the Cesar Awards, trailer and audio commentary by Jean-Pierre Azema and Gerard Depardieu. As with other Truffaut titles previously issued by Tartan, the new Cinema Club DVD drops most of that version's extras but does retain the audio commentary and the trailer, but you'd be better off tracking down the deleted Tartan disc.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is one of Truffaut's best films. In his usual gentle and subtle style he tells the story of a theatre and the people working and living in it during WWII - and what an incredible cast he had. Catherine Deneuve - there is no one who had fit better the role of Marion Steiner. It's amazing how much she expresses by saying nothing. Gerard Depardieu - as the young, ambitious actor involved with the Resistance. The two have a very unique chemistry! It is a beautiful movie - and definitely a must see!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
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.
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This film has everything
30 years before Potiche, two of the greats of French cinema meet in a complex, moving rich film.
the atmosphere of he "Occupation"is rendered brilliantly, with every single... Read more
the atmosphere of he "Occupation"is rendered brilliantly, with every single... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Francine Palant
Quality French cinema
Spellbinding Deneuve and debonair Depardieu, these two actors could carry any script. It's arthouse cinema, but compelling - an insight into what it was like to live in Occupied... Read more
Published 6 months ago by William Cohen
Probably Best Appreciated by the No Longer Young
"The Last Metro" (1980), ("Le Dernier Metro"in the French), a dramatic romance with comic touches, was directed and co-written (with Suzanne Schiffman) by greatly esteemed modern... Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2009 by Stephanie DePue
quite a boring film
This film was quite boring and long. I endured to the end to see what happened, but wish I hadn't.
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by jane austen
A satisying movie of choices and adult feelings
This is a first-class romantic, suspensful and humane movie. The Germans have occupied Paris and there are informers everywhere. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2007 by C. O. DeRiemer
Unremarkable Film
"The Last Metro" is merely a moderately watchable film about life in a small Montmartre theatre during the Nazi Occupation. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2007 by L. Davidson
Big and empty
Having finally seen this film, I was surprised how disappointing it was. I did some research and discovered it was a critical failure but a commercial success on release. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2005
Excellent truffaut excells
The film is one of great acheivement by Truffaut, although he stray from his origins of the Nouvelle Vague and becomes slightly hollywoodised. Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2003 by L P Overall
Grace and Elegance
If films were planes, Francois Truffaut's "The Last Metro" would be a glider, cutting gently through the winds of occupied Paris, and moving gracefully through the lives of a... Read more
Published on 26 May 2003 by "starlighthotel"
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