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"A film about love..."

Written By: Andrew Ellington

`Le Dernier Metro' is a gentle and almost placid film, one that sort of floats over the audience with its silky texture. This is both good and bad, for while it manages to absorb us in its emotional manipulation, it fails (at times) to give us any real tension; which is what we'd expect from a film of this nature. Even in the throws of marital aggression we are never really brought into the grit of it all, because everything moves with such smooth calculation. While this form of delivery may not work to establish the intimate tensions it tries to create, it does work with developing the intimate romance that blossoms between two of the films stars, building a soft and near private exchange of pure emotional interaction.

So, in other words; this film works very well as a romance, but struggles a bit as a character study.

`Le Dernier Metro' tells the story of Marion Steiner, a young and beautiful woman who is running her Jewish husbands theater in war-torn Paris. Her husband has reportedly fled France but in actuality he is hiding in the basement of the theater. Marion tries to juggle both the running of the theater, the starring in the plays and the shielding of her husband from the Nazi's. Her husband on the other hand is just trying to remain sane as he tucks himself away, never seeing anyone but his wife; and even that is limited. He tries to work from the basement, listening closely to the rehearsals going on above him and giving his advice for change.

What he never expected though, was that his wife would fall for a co-star.

That co-star is Bernard Granger, a dashing young man working for the resistance. Marion is quietly (where that serene flow really works beautifully) falling for this man; not just his charms and good looks but really for him as a person, his ideals and all he stands for.

There is a magical scene, on the stage, in front of hundreds, where they have a genuine `moment' and it nearly takes your breath away.

The performances within the film are brilliant all the way around. Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu are Oscar worthy here, developing characters we can relate to and sympathize with. Deneuve says so much with just the emotion in her eyes, really portraying every single emotion with such precision and realism. Depardieu has the tough job of being almost instantly engaging without ever jumping out at you, since their attraction to one another is so subtle and calm. He does this brilliantly. Both Heinz Bennent (as Marion's stir-crazy husband) and Jean-Louis Richard (as the critic bent on Steiner's distruction) are fantastic in their supporting roles and really add layers to the films development. It just would have been nice if the direction had changed pace for their encounters, so as to add a little more intensity to their situations.

That said; I am also not a huge fan of the ending (I hate the whole `lets wrap everything up by just telling you what happens next' sort of thing) but it isn't a complete kill-joy.

I definitely would recommend `Le Dernier Metro', especially for the top-notch performances by the entire cast. Deneuve is a knock out, whichever way you look at it. The film is a beautiful love story; tackling a woman's love for her husband, a woman's love for another, a man's love for his wife, but most of all it tackles the passionate love for the theater.

"The show must go on!"

Written By: Hiram Gomez Pardo

Despite the restrictions of the occupied French by the [...] boot, a Parisian theatrical company decides to continue.

A bold and striking statement in favor of the creative liberty in those opprobrious years of oppression and censure.

One of the smarter icon movies of this unforgettable director. Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu make each one a superb tour de force performance.

"Minor Truffaut, but quite enjoyable"

Written By: Trevor Willsmer

Although Truffaut had another two films in him, in many ways The Last Metro looks as if it was planned as his last movie, even down to filming a deleted scene (included on the European DVDs but not this NTSC version) where a dying director tries to convince Catherine Deneuve's heroine to star in his last film. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it sums up his life and work so much as it feels as if the somewhat half-hearted screenplay has been rushed into production without being entirely thought through. Not that its bad - indeed parts of it are quite enjoyable - more that it tends to drift by like exactly the kind of `well-made play' that he once attacked, with the romance barely developed and much of the interest coming from characters on the sidelines, such as Jean-Louis Richard's critic, collaborator and anti-Semitic propagandist. At it's best it comes over like a theatrical variation on Day For Night set against the German occupation (indeed, Richard was DFN's co-writer), without ever quite matching that film's emotional rollercoaster ride.

"A Satisying Movie of Choices and Adult Feelings"

Written By: C. O. DeRiemer

This is a first-class romantic, suspensful and humane movie. The Germans have occupied Paris and there are informers everywhere. Marion Steiner (Catherine Deneuve), a famous actress, has taken over the management of the theater her husband, Lucas Steiner, an equally famous director, has left. Steiner is a Jew and disappeared shortly after the Germans took over. For the next production Marion Steiner hires a young actor, Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu), who loves women and who gradually comes to love Marion.

There are secrets everywhere. Lucas Steiner is hiding and living in the basement of the theater, protected by his wife. He directs the new play through notes to his wife and discussions in the late evening when she visits him. Granger is an member of the resistance who could bring disaster to the theater if he is caught. Marion Steiner is devoted to her husband, but feelings for Granger slowly begin to appear, and are not unnoticed by her husband. All the while life in Paris under the Nazis goes on, the play is prepared and rehearsed, Jewish members of the company are protected or caught or flee. An odious, collaborating journalist and theater reviewer uses his contacts and influence to try to arrange a relationship with Marion. Eventually Bernard leaves the theater for active fighting.

This is something of a romantic movie of choices. At the end of the movie, the Germans are fleeing Paris. Bernard has returned and a new play starring Marion and Bernard is a great success. Lucas is spotted by the audience at the rear of a box and they stand to applaud him. Bernard and Marion bring him to the stage to join them in receiving the ovation for the play. Then Marion moves between the two men, holds their hands, and the three of them stand smiling while the applause roars on. And that's the end. This is, in my view, a very satisfying movie of theater life, of the occupation, and of three people who manage to find their way.

I think the DVD looks great, with many of the scenes having a dark, warm look about them.

"Truffault can be a lot of fun"

Written By: Adrienne Shirley

Francois Truffault, who has always terrified me as a true "art" director, comes across in this film with warmth and humor; not only that, one get to learn a little about Paris under the Nazis and how people "coped." Catherine Deneuve, wife of the director and lead lady, is gorgeous as she balances the needs of her cranky Jewish husband in hiding (Heinz Bennent; he's continuing to direct by listening in to rehearsals through the pipes) and those of her handsome leading man (Gerard Depardieu), whose only way of coming on seems to be to grasp a pretty woman by the hand, gaze into it and murmur, "I seem to see two women here." For a movie about a sad and terrible time, there is a lot of strength, here, and I found Truffault, for some bizarre reason, easy to understand.