The Last Metro (1981)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Interesting, thought-provoking story of civilian life in wartime.Paris, 1942. With the Germans in control and her Jewish theatre producer-director husband on the run from them, an actress, Marion Steiner (played by Catherine Deneuve) is left with the task of running his theatre. She starts rehearsals for a new play, written by her husband, and hires a new director and a leading man, Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu). It's make or break, as a flop will see the theatre go bankrupt. This, with the Germans clamping down on everything and the city's biggest drama critic an anti-semite and Nazi pawn, means it's going to be tough. Meanwhile, (known to her) her husband is hiding in the cellar, and he can't help but offer suggestions on the finer details of the play...On the face of it, this sounds like the makings of a decent comedy, a farce parodying Nazism and the theatre. While it has its comical moments, The Last Metro is most definitely a drama, and a good one. Quite claustrophobic in the way the French people are forced to live their lives, but that would be accurate for a civilian population in wartime, especially in an occupied country.Has some interesting themes too, not least being the inanity of bigotry. There is a strong sense of perseverance, survival and "the show must go on". Catherine Deneuve sparkles in the lead role. Good work too from Gerard Depardieu as Bernard Granger. Solid supporting cast.On the negative side, is quite slow moving at times and there are some detours which didn't add anything to the plot. The conclusion feels quite rushed and there isn't a great profundity about it - it's more a wrap-up than anything else. The movie is more about the journey than the destination.

In occupied Paris, an actress (Catherine Deneuve) married to a Jewish theater owner (Heinz Bennent) must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.Truffaut commented "this film is not concerned merely with anti-semitism but intolerance in general" and a tolerance is shown through the characters of Jean Poiret playing a homosexual director and Andrea Ferreol plays a lesbian designer. As in Truffaut's earlier film Jules et Jim, there is a love triangle between the three principal characters: Marion Steiner (Deneuve), her husband Lucas (Heinz Bennent) and Bernard Granger (Depardieu), an actor in the theatre's latest production.Although I was not terribly impressed by this movie, I did appreciate that it had both Deneuve and Depardieu. Deneuve is arguably the greatest French actress of the 1960s-1980s. Depardieu is rather young here and did not really become internationally famous or another decade, thanks to such fluff as "My Father the Hero". Seeing both together in one film is great.

François Truffaut's homage to the theater was an Oscar and Golden Globe nominee and won a basketful of César Awards. It takes place in Nazi occupied Paris in 1942 and shows how the French coped with that tragedy. The anti-Jewish propaganda is continual throughout.Catherine Deneuve is magnificent as the wife of a theater owner (Heinz Bennent), who now runs it while keeping her Jewish husband hidden in the basement.Gérard Depardieu is her new leading man. He is stunningly suave and comedic as a womanizer, who also happens to be part of the Resistance. His repartee with Arnette (Andréa Ferréol) is hilarious.Bennent was excellent as the husband and director in the basement. Seeing him just before the play opened was just as I imagine it is for all directors.The music and cinematography were excellent also, and Truffaut's direction was flawless.A superb ending!

Set in occupied Paris, 1980's "The Last Metro" is about a theater trying to survive in wartime Paris. Lucas Steiner, the German manager and director of the theater, is said to have fled Paris and left his beautiful movie star wife (Deneuve) to run the place in his absence. What no one knows is that Steiner never left - he's hiding in the basement of the theater until Marion can arrange a safe passage for him to the free zone.Marion is unable to hire Jews in her theater and unbeknownst to her hires a very political man, Bernard Granger (Depardieu) as her leading man. The two fall for one another, but Marion doesn't act on her feelings because of her husband. Marion must put up with the anti-Semite critic Daxiat (Jean-Louis Richard), and when Bernard comes down on him for an insulting review, Marion is afraid the theater will be closed and washes her hands of him.This is a film about people living in trying times and attempting to survive and do the work they love while danger lurks everywhere. The photography is beautiful, and the film is done with great style and captures the '40s atmosphere beautifully. Deneueve is breathtakingly beautiful, but all of the faces are so much more interesting than one finds in an American film. A captivating movie - I loved every minute of it.