The Last Metro

It's rare for Truffaut to tackle social issues, but here he does it with a delicate touch, without resorting to cheap sentimentality at all. It's an well-constructed, engaging film that moves swiftly and effortlessly weaves the story of the Nazi occupation with an homage to the theater. It's a good piece of work... but still, it lacks those precious moments that make watching Truffaut such a thrill.

I enjoyed this late work from Truffaut, which works on two levels: as a backstage look into the world of the theater, as well as an allegory for the French overcoming the Nazi's. Wonderful performances by Deneuve and Depardieu anchor the film, but the intriguing storyline and emotional weight of Deneuve's struggle keep this engaging throughout.

An overlong but likeable mess that doesn't say much about occupied Paris that hadn't been said at that point. As long as you don't think too hard about the very real and very damaging moral compromises the city's theatre world had to contend with in the 40s, it's a perfectly enjoyable couple of hours in the company of some terrifically talented performers.

Truffaut's valentine to the theater, set during Nazi occupied Paris during WW II. Deneuve gives one of her best screen performances. Another love triangle film by Truffaut.

More evidence of late Truffaut's move towards convention, but it is too well made to dismiss offhand. Whatever he wants to say about art and politics, and art's role as both transformative and escapist, as an act of personal and perhaps social resistance, has been addressed more thoroughly and persuasively by other film makers before and since. Nonetheless, it looks good and is well performed by all involved.

this is the first truffaut work i've been truly impressed by, depardieu and deneuve are completely amazing. with a little tighter script and some more of truffaut's outrageous work in "the 400 blows" i would have been blown away.

Excellent work by the mature Truffaut.

depardieu

Hadn't seen a Truffaut in a long time. Missed the warmth that his films bring. Great performances

Tru-FFAUT! Tru-FFAUT!

Tightly enclosed symbolic melodrama of oppression and release that concentrates on individual lives caught up in a moment of mass madness and seeking refuge in their dedication to their art.

Very engaging performances from all involved - a delightful little treat.

81.500

Gentle and warm, on the refuge of art in a time of suppression. Resistance comes in many forms.

Just so so terribly boring. Deneuve aged like rotten meat.

10 Aralik 07. dvd. basroldeki kadin cok ii.truffaut'un yonetmenligi cok ii.fakat sanirim julet et jim'den sonra bu film bir tekrar niteligi tasimakta.yine iki erkek, yine bir kadin.yine ayni durumlar ve fonda tarihi bir olay.tek fark tiyatronunda arka planda yer almasi...400 darbe filminin sonu kullanilmis.bu tip tekrarlarla dolu...ama yine de Truffaut yapinca oluyor.

"As a portrait of a time, Last Metro is a warmly performed and deftly shot trifle." - Fernando F. Croce

Truffaut crafts a light drama that seems to think of art as escapism for everyone, including the artists involved. If anything, maybe more so? The mirror of lives keeps the artists afloat.

In The Last Metro, Truffaut looks for the complexity and ambiguity that transcend politics.

Solid script with impressive acting performances. Really works and even has some comedic elements.

This is fairly well written and acted, but overall I didn't really get much out of its message or overall style. The whole love triangle (even in a backdrop of Nazi oppression and refuge in art) seems heavy handed here. I like the parallels between art and reality at the end though shown through both the play and the 'real life' happenings, as they slowly built up and became more clear by the end.

This movie is what I compare all other movies to when it comes to film as a true art and acting strength. It is not a contender for mind-blowing cinematography of modern films like Mad Max Fury Road, Lord of the Rings, and Avatar. However, it is standalone in acting and artistic representation, and narrative on the difficulties and blurred lines of Nazi occupation of France. Highly recommendable.

Truffaut really has a knack for storytelling sometimes. His direction is just brilliant this time (with wonderful uses of perspectives and light in the theater). And what a performance by Depardieu, he illuminates this movie. The love story between him and Deneuve fell flat to me though and could have left space for Depardieu's resistance backstory and the conflict between political involvement and merely trying to get by as an artist in a war-torn country.

Truffaut has an eminently gentle touch as a director, lending every scene, especially the most mundane, a simple grace. There's plenty of plot to play with in The Last Metro, but Truffaut is mostly preoccupied with the fragile nature of human relationships, particularly their eternal capacity to shift and surprise.

While there are countless characters in the film whose intermingling story lines compel its energy, what's most impressive is the understatement of romantic friction in the film, as Deneuve and Depardieu cultivate an implicit attraction that, rather than drawing them together, deters them like divergent ends of a magnet.