Rent The Last Metro (1980)

3.4 of 5 from 131 ratings
2h 7min
Rent The Last Metro (aka Le Dernier Métro) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
In Nazi-occupied Paris Marion and her Jewish husband decide to conceal him in the very theatre that they own with the alibi that he has fled abroad. As he hides in the cellar from the Gestapo she must continue her job as lead actress in the play and take on her husband's job as director to hold up the facade. Meanwhile the German oppression continues to increase on both the characters' lives and the play itself.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , , , , René Dupré, Aude Loring, , , , Jean-Pierre Klein, Renata Flores, , Hénia Suchar
Directors:
Producers:
François Truffaut
Writers:
François Truffaut, Suzanne Schiffman, Jean-Claude Grumberg
Aka:
Le Dernier Métro
Studio:
Tartan
Genres:
Classics, Drama
Collections:
10 Films to Watch if You Like To Be or Not to Be, Award Winners, Films to Watch If You Like..., Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Catherine Deneuve, The Biggest Oscar Snubs: Part 2, The Film Highlights of 1980, The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to François Truffaut, Top 10 Films By Year
Countries:
France
BBFC:
Release Date:
26/08/2002
Run Time:
127 minutes
Languages:
French Dolby Digital 1.0
Subtitles:
English
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.85:1
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • Introduction to the film
  • Audio commentary by historian Jean-Pierre Azema (featuring Gerard Depardieu)
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Francois Truffaut Collection trailers
  • Truffaut interviewed upon the film's release (1980)
  • Truffaut and the pleasure of reading (1980)
  • The Cesar Awards 1981
  • An unreleased scene
  • Chapter selection
BBFC:
Release Date:
29/09/2014
Run Time:
129 minutes
Languages:
French LPCM Stereo
Subtitles:
English
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • Presentation of the Film by Critic Serge Toubiana
  • Commentary with Gerard Depardieu and Film Historian Jean-Pierre Azema
  • Deleted Scene
  • Original Theatrical Trailer

More like The Last Metro

Found in these customers lists

Reviews (1) of The Last Metro

A theatrical historical drama about a theatre in 1940s Paris - The Last Metro review by Philip in Paradiso

Spoiler Alert
13/04/2020

On his way to start rehearsals at the Théâtre Montmartre, in Paris under German occupation, in the 1940s, where he has been hired as the male lead for a new production, Bernard Granger (G Depardieu) flirts with a woman: that is how the movie starts.

The film is about the staging of a play during these troubled times. The chief censor is a repellent French character who is pro-Nazi and rabidly anti-Semitic. Matters are made more complicated by the fact the owner of the theatre (C Deneuve) is the wife of a German Jew who has disappeared: he has fled to South America.

Despite the strong historical background, it is not really a historical drama in the conventional sense, because much of the film is about the theatre itself, and the play, and various sentimental intrigues going on (or not) among the chief characters -- in the manner of a 19th-century French play, in fact.

The acting is oddly theatrical and feels stilted, more particularly as far as G Depardieu and C Deneuve are concerned. He tends to overdo it and sounds like he is playing a part, whether he is playing a part on stage, as part of the play in the movie, or actually playing his part off-stage, in the film. He comes across as naive and clumsy, much of the time. C Deneuve is her usual self: cool, aloof and self-controlled -- ice-cold even when she tries to convey emotions of any kind. (From what we read in the press, that is actually how she is in real life, so, she is basically playing the ice-cold beautiful blonde that she is in real life.)

Because of all this, the film feels more like a play than a movie. It feels theatrical and contrived, a little bit old-fashioned: it was shot in 1980 but it feels more like a film that might have been produced in the 1950s or early 1960s. Maybe this is deliberate: an attempt are re-creating the 1940s style within the movie, as it were. But it only works up to a point.

The result is a sort of disconnect between the theatricality of the film and its subject matter, and it is not clear whether it is deliberate on the part of the director or merely a consequence of some pretentious, stilted and formalistic angle adopted by F Truffaut.

The conclusion is that it is a good film, but it has its weaknesses. It is enjoyable, but it is not the masterpiece many seem to believe it is, more particularly in France where it is frequently talked about as an unmissable chef d'oeuvre. I would still recommend it: it is interesting and it will make you think about all of these issues after you have seen it.

1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.

Unlimited films sent to your door, starting at £15.99 a month.