The Last Metro [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

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. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Vistavision)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Subtitle: Eng
• Features:
  • Disc One:
  • New Audio Commentary by Annette Insdorf, Author of Francois Truffaut
  • Audio Commentary by Actor Gerard Depardieu, Historian Jean-Pierre Azema, and Truffaut Biographer Serge Toubiana
  • New and improved English Subtitle Translation
  • Disc Two:
  • Deleted Scenes
  • French television excerpts featuring interviews with Truffaut and Actors Catherine Deneuve, Depardieu, and Jean Poiret
  • New Video Interviews with Actors Andrea Ferreol, 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 Histoire d'eau, a 1958 short film codirected by Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Plus: A Booklet featuring a new essay by Critic Armond White

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Foreign Language Film - 1980 (François Truffaut)

• French Academy of Cinema

•     Won Best Actor - 1980 (Gérard Depardieu)
•     Won Best Actress - 1980 (Catherine Deneuve)
•     Won Best Cinematography - 1980 (Néstor Almendros)
•     Won Best Director - 1980 (François Truffaut)
•     Won Best Editing - 1980 (Martine Barraqué-Curie)
•     Won Best Music - 1980 (Georges Delerue)
•     Won Best Original Screenplay - 1980 (François Truffaut, Suzanne Schiffman)
•     Won Best Picture - 1980 (François Truffaut)
•     Won Best Production Design - 1980 (Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko)
•     Won Best Sound - 1980 (Michel Laurent)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1980

• National Board of Review

•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1981

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Catherine Deneuve - Marion Steiner
       Gerard Depardieu - Bernard Granger
       Jean Poiret - Jean-Loup Cottins
       Heinz Bennent - Lucas Steiner
       Andrea Ferreol - Arlette Guillaume
       Paulette Dubost - Germaine Fabre
       Sabine Haudepin - Nadine Marsac
       Jean - Louis Richard - Daxiat
       Maurice Risch - Raymond Boursier
       Rose Thiery - Jacquot's Mother
       Pierre Belot - Hotel Porter
       Franck Pasquier - Jacquot/Eric
       Jessica Zucman - Rosette Goldstern
       Richard Bohringer - Gestapo Officer
       Jean - Jose Richer - Rene Bernardini
       Rene Dupre - M. Valentin
       Alain Tasma - Marc
       Christian Baltauss - Bernard's Replacement
       Jean - Pierre Klein - Christian Leglise
       Jacob Weizbluth - Rosen
       Marcel Berbert - Merlin
       Renata - Greta Borg
       Laszlo Szabo - Lieutnant Bergen
       Martine Simonet - Martine Senechal
       Ewa Truffaut - Secretary

• Director:

  François Truffaut

• Producer:

  François Truffaut

• Screenwriter:

  Suzanne Schiffman, François Truffaut, Jean-Claude Grumberg

• Cinematographer:

  Néstor Almendros

• Composer (Music Score):

  Georges Delerue

• Editor:

  Martine Barraqué-Curie, Marie-Aimée Debril

• Art Director:

  Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko

• Costume Designer:

  Liselle Roos

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Michel Laurent

REVIEW:

• One of France's greatest and most popular filmmakers, Francois 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 Metro (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 Gerard Depardieu (Cyrano de Bergerac), and film was shot by the extraordinary Nestor Almendros (My Night at Maud's, Days of Heaven). ~ Brendon Hanley, Rovi