Product Details

• Actors: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Poiret, Andréa Ferréol, Paulette Dubost
• Directors: François Truffaut
• Writers: François Truffaut, Jean-Claude Grumberg, Suzanne Schiffman
• Producers: François Truffaut
• Format: Black & White, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French, German
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Criterion Collection, The
• VHS Release Date: September 3, 1996
• Run Time: 131 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302919665
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,473 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

François 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 Césars, 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 (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

Product 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true classic, September 24, 2001

By 

J. L. Diamond "babydials" (Lynbrook, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Metro [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of Truffaut's and Deneuve's best pictures. It has warmth, history, a sense of the absurd, excellent pacing, and a bit of suspense. It's also has more a linear storyline then many French films. All of the performances are excellent.
Two Warnings:
1. Avoid dubbed versions (Deneuve's sense of humor is in her voice, not on her face, resulting in a mirthless character when dubbed).
2. The new Fox version changed the sub-titles and wrecked some of the best lines.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truffaut at his best, July 9, 2001

By 

Nirankush Mukherjee (Stoneham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Metro (DVD)

I was first drawn to this film when I read a news article that this film had been considered by many French critics to be the best French film of the 80's. I couldn't have agreed more with that judgment when I saw it. Truffaut goes beyond telling a story of love and tragedy in Nazi-occupied France, it shows how intensely he feels about art and theater and how inseparable they are from human life. Theater is a big part in the lives of the central characters and hence a key ingredient of this film as well. Truffaut uses that fictional theater and interweaves that with real lives so seamlessly that it sometimes blows your mind away. I think in many ways it is an extension of 'Day for Night'. A terrific achievement, to say the least.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peerless Dramatic Performance, April 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Metro [VHS] (VHS Tape)

During the nazi occupation of Paris, when missing the last metro meant a long and dangerous night on the streets, everyone must play a part. There are great sub-plots related to freedom and tyranny, but the star is Deneuve. This is her best role, and she has had many great ones. Here, she is an actress who cannot betray her love for the leading man, Depardieu, to her playwright husband in hiding who "directs" by what he hears. Great dramatic tension, great performances, and a great illustration (or a parable) of the realities that are created by drama. Maltin is obtuse when he says the movie, especially the finale, is pointless. The end is entirely fitting and pleasant, although startling. The war is won, the subterfuge can be abandoned, and the protagonists in the drama continue to create and order reality.