The winner of a phenomenal 10 Césars at the 1981 French Academy awards, this is one of Truffaut's most highly acclaimed films. It is set in wartime Paris during Nazi occupation. A Jewish theatre manager is in hiding, and his wife (Deneuve), has taken over the running of the troupe, staging a new play with womanising actor Bernard Granger (Depardieu) as the lead. As the actors begin rehearsals, an anti-semitic journalist instills fear and insecurity in the theatre. A thrilling story of love that captures the detail of the period.
"'Love and Liberation'" -
PAUL RONAYNE on 24th August 2009
Moving on from the Doinel project Truffaut sets The Last Metro during the Nazi occupation of France. The title refers to the last Metro home before the nightly curfew ... more >
Moving on from the Doinel project Truffaut sets The Last Metro during the Nazi occupation of France. The title refers to the last Metro home before the nightly curfew is imposed in Paris. Marion Steiner(Catherine Deneuve) plays a beautiful, aging actress who runs a small Parisian theatre on the brink of closure following the escape of her Jewish director husband Lucas played by the German actor Heinz Bennent.
The film focuses on the everyday life of the theatre and its staff in wartime Paris; the shortages,air-raids,the black-market and the ever present threat from the occupiers as the resistance step up their campaign. Marion hires actor Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu) as the lead in the next production which must be a success for the theatre to continue.
Yet Marion and Bernard both lead double lives, actors by day, she pays clandestine visits to her husband's hiding place and he assists the resistance. This is mirrored in their own relationship-lovers on stage yet coldy professional offstage. The appearance of an anti-semitic film critic, Daxiat (Jean-Louis Richard)only compounds Marion's problems as she finds herself being drawn towards Bernard. This is one of Deneuve's finest performances as she manages to remain stoically unflappable despite the enormous pressures closing in around her.
Trauffaut develops the love triangle with a poetic subtely that evolves without recourse to over-sentimentality. This is a serious, dark film yet without the excesses of violence and action that could have spoilt the ambience. However, the threat of collaborators, arrests, torture and execution are omnipresent until swept away by the sunshine of love and liberation.
