The Last Metro [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: François Truffaut François Truffaut

Overview

The Last Metro is set virtually in its entirety in a crumbling French theatre. During the Nazi occupation, Jewish director Lucas Steiner (Heinz Bennent) hides in the basement of the theatre, while his wife Marion (Catherine Deneuve) stars in its latest production. Marion is enamored of leading man Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu), and he with her, but they resist temptation out of respect to her husband. When she is given a choice between loyalty to her husband and to her countrymen, her dilemma offers two logical solutions--both of which are acted out on stage during the play. This Pirandellian ending aside, The Last Metro is one of the few films to accurately capture the feeling of what it was like to live in Paris under the thumb of the Nazis.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/24/2009
UPC:	0715515042314
Original Release:	1980
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	2:11:00
Sales rank:	12,387

Special Features

New Audio Commentary by Annette Insdorf, Author of François Truffaut; Audio Commentary by Actor Gérard Depardieu, Historian Jean-Pierre Azéma, and Truffaut biographer Serge Toubiana ; Deleted Scene; French Television exerpts featuring interviews with Truffaut and Actors Catherine Deneuve, Depardieu, and Jean Poiret; New video Interviews with Actors Andréa Ferréol, Sabine Haudepin, and Paulette Dubost, second assistant Director Alain Tasma, and Camera Assistants Florent Bazin and Tessa Racine, in which they discuss The Last Metros' ensemble performances and visual style; A Video Interview with the celebrated cinematographer Nestor Almendros, detailing his collaborations with Truffaut; Une Historic d'eau, a 1958 short film codirected by Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard; Theatrical Trailer; New and Improved English subtitle translation; Plus: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Armond White

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Catherine Deneuve	Marion Steiner
Gérard Depardieu	Bernard Granger
Jean Poiret	Jean-Loup Cottins
Heinz Bennent	Lucas Steiner
Andréa Ferréol	Arlette Guillaume
Maurice Risch	Raymond Boursier
Paulette Dubost	Germaine Fabre
Jean-Louis Richard	Daxiat
Sabine Haudepin	Nadine Marsac
Richard Bohringer	Gestapo Officer
Pierre Belot	Desk Clerk
Aude Loring	Actor
Rose Thiéry	Jacquot's Mother/Concierge
Jean-Pierre Klein	Christian Leglise
Marcel Berbert	Merlin
László Szabó	Lieutnant Bergen
Jean-José Richer	Rene Bernardini
Alexandre Aumont	1st Nurse
Philippe Vesque	Actor
Christian Baltauss	Bernard's Replacement
René Dupré	Valentin
Alain Tasma	Marc
Jacob Weizbluth	Rosen
Renata Flores	Greta Borg
Hénia Suchar	Yvonne the Chambermaid
Martine Simonet	Martine, the thief
Jessica Zucman	Rosette Goldstern
Laszló Szábó	Actor
Hénia Ziv	Actor
Andréa Ferreol	Actor,Actor
Franck Pasquier	Jacquot/Eric
Renata	Greta Borg
Georges Delerue	Composer

Technical Credits

François Truffaut

Jean-Claude Grumberg

Suzanne Schiffman

François Truffaut	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Jean-Claude Grumberg	Screenwriter
Suzanne Schiffman	Screenwriter
Michel Laurent	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Daniel Couteau	Sound Effects
Jacques Maumont	Sound Effects
Michel Mellier	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

One of France's greatest and most popular filmmakers, François Truffaut was never as overtly political as his contemporary Jean-Luc Godard. Truffaut was the subject of some criticism for his apolitical stance, particularly amidst the social upheaval of the 1960s; his response to the idea that art should have an expressly political purpose did not come until the end of his career, with 1980's Le Dernier Métro (The Last Metro). The story of a working theater and its players during the Nazi occupation of Paris, the film examines the nature of art and how it interacts with political commitment. The film is the director's final notable work before his death in 1984, and unlike Louis Malle and his occupation-era movie Au Revoir Les Enfants, Truffaut never goes for a straight-out emotional punch; he's more self-conscious. The film was a significant hit at the time -- no wonder, considering the collection of talent involved in its making. In front of the camera were two of France's most respected stars, Catherine Deneuve (Belle de Jour, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and Gérard Depardieu (Cyrano de Bergerac), and film was shot by the extraordinary Nestor Almendros (My Night at Maud's, Days of Heaven).