The Last Metro (Le dernier métro)

1942. In occupied Paris, the theatres and cinemas are packed, but they finish early. Due to curfews, no-one can afford to miss the last Metro home. One theatre is run by Lucas Steiner (Heinz Bennent), but he has had to flee the country as a Jew. His actress wife Marion (Catherine Deneuve) runs the establishment in his stead. Bernard Granger (Gérard Depardieu) is the leading man. But what only Marion knows is that Lucas is still in Paris, in hiding...

What we see of a foreign country’s cinema is not what a native sees – and the same is most likely true of other country’s view of our cinema. François Truffaut’s The Four Hundred Blows (Les quatre cents coups) was one of the films that kickstarted the French New Wave, which became a highly influential movement throughout the 1960s and beyond. However, if the New Wave was where the artistic action was, it was rarely big box office. That was even true of Truffaut, less experimental than Godard, Resnais or Rivette, and certainly with a warmer sensibility than most of his colleagues. However, that changed with The Last Metro, winner of ten César Awards, and was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. (It lost to Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, which admittedly I haven't seen – but that's one of many Oscar decisions likely to seem eccentric nearly three decades later.) It was also a considerable commercial success in France, the greatest in Truffaut’s career.

It’s not true – and potentially snobbish – to suggest that artistic and commercial success do not go together. They can and do – but not always. I doubt that many would now see The Last Metro as one of Truffaut’s best films. No complaint about the acting, with Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu on fine form, not forgetting a very solid supporting case. (This was Depardieu’s first film with Truffaut, and he would go on to star in the two films the director went on to make before his death, La femme d’à côté (The Woman Next Door) and Vivement dimanche! (Confidentially Yours in the US, Finally, Sunday! in the UK).) Production design and period detail is excellent.

Yet somehow, try as I might (and I did try – two viewings, not counting a third while listening to the commentary), The Last Metro comes over as bland and uninvolving. While I’m aware that Truffaut (born 1932) lived through the Parisian occupation, and I can’t doubt his sincerity in making this film, but it seems too soft-edged. While Truffaut could be darker at times, his approach seems inappropriate here. It’s a terrible thing to say, but this is a film that seems almost nostalgic for what must have been a fraught and terrifying time. Nestor Almendros’s warm-toned photography, while characteristically fine in itself, only adds to this impression.

If I’m being hard on this film, it’s because to me it falls short of Truffaut’s highest standards. Truffaut was a devoted admirer of Hitchcock, and perhaps some of that director’s darker sensibility was what I was missing. The film will of course still be essential viewing for Truffaut’s fans, of which there are many.

The DVD

The Last Metro is one of six Truffaut films released by 2 Entertain. It is derived from MK2’s French release, which is available singly and as part of a five-film (and fully English-friendly) box set Les femmes et l’amour. The DVD is encoded for Region 2 only.

The transfer is in the correct ratio of 1.66:1 (as almost all Truffaut’s non-Scope films are, certainly all those photographed by Nestor Almendros) and anamorphically enhanced. The transfer is up to the high standards you’d expect from a DVD produced in France, home of the auteur, and a disc showcasing the work of one of their leading auteurs.

The soundtrack is the original mono, and is clear and well balanced. Subtitles are available in English for the feature and the extras, but appear to be fixed.

As with other Truffaut films released by 2 Entertain, Serge Toubiana provides a short introduction (5:32). Toubiana speaks in French and is overdubbed in English.Toubiana also moderates the commentary, which is with Gérard Depardieu and historian Jean-Pierre Azéma. Depardieu talks about his work with Truffaut on this film and beyond, and how he overcame his intial prejudices to become a dedicated collaborator. He also speaks movingly about Truffaut's final illness and death. Azéma is an authority on the period and his contributions concentrate on that, even pointing out a few mistakes in period detail. The commentary is in French with English subtitles.

The remaining extra on 2 Entertain's disc is the theatrical trailer (2:37).

The MK2 release has a few more extras: a 1980 television interview with Truffaut (5:15), another 1980 video piece featuring Truffaut discussing the pleasure of reading (4:37), footage from the 1981 César Awards (14:31), and a scene not included in the theatrical version but added to the 1982 video release (4:47). This disc also includes trailers for the other titles in MK2's Truffaut Collection: The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, Jules and Jim, The Soft Skin, Fahrenheit 451 (an extract rather than a trailer), Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board, Two English Girls, Love on the Run, The Last Metro, The Woman Next Door and Confidentially Yours, plus a weblink to MK2's site.

Since this DVD was released, Criterion have added this title to their Collection in both DVD and Blu-ray form. It has the extras above, plus an additional commentary by Annette Insdorf, additional interviews, Truffaut's 1958 short film collaboration with Godard Une histoire d'eau, plus a booklet essay from Armond White. Fans of the film will no doubt go for this, but either 2 Entertain's or MK2's release are entirely acceptable and will almost certainly be cheaper.

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