Last Metro

UPC: 715515042215

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children]

Summary: 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

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Actor – French Academy of Cinema Best Production Design – French Academy of Cinema Best Picture – French Academy of Cinema Best Editing – French Academy of Cinema Best Director – French Academy of Cinema Best Original Screenplay – French Academy of Cinema Best Original Screenplay – French Academy of Cinema Best Sound – French Academy of Cinema Best Music – French Academy of Cinema Best Actress – French Academy of Cinema Best Cinematography – French Academy of Cinema Best Foreign Film – null Best Foreign Language Film – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Foreign Film – National Board of Review Best Foreign Film – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Disc One:

New Audio Commentary by Annette Insdorf, Author of Fran?ois Truffaut
Audio Commentary by Actor G?rard Depardieu, Historian Jean-Pierre Az?ma, 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 Andr?a Ferr?ol, 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

Last Metro

Format: DVD

Release Date: 03/24/2009

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Vistavision

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 131 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- The Last Metro
1. Occupation [3:08]
2. A Real Theater [4:55]
3. Rules And Permits [6:23]
4. Performances [5:58]
5. Vistitors [2:45]
6. Accepting Everything [2:04]
7. Underground [5:43]
8. Smear Campaign [1:29]
9. Suspicions [4:19]
10. Crazy Ideas [3:10]
11. Plans [3:49]
12. Casting [1:51]
13. Discoveries [5:12]
14. Close Call [3:12]
15. Unseen Influences [5:45]
16. Fixing Things [3:05]
17. Warnings [3:47]
18. Revelations [3:09]
19. A Disastrous [3:39]
20. Missing [6:22]
21. Opening Night [2:37]
22. Backstage [9:28]
23. Reviews [4:42]
24. New Thoughts [2:28]
25. Ways Out [4:56]
26. Resistance [5:20]
27. Inspection [3:45]
28. Stage Design [3:07]
29. Two Women [3:07]
30. Connections [4:04]
31. Curtain Call [2:43]
1. A Film About Collaboration [3:08]
2. Creating Cinematic Unity [4:55]
3. Theme of Displacement [6:23]
4. Going Behind the Scenes [5:58]
5. Outward Calm [2:45]
6. Chilling Statistics [2:04]
7. The Heart of the Story [5:43]
8. Ring-Wing Press [1:29]
9. A Duplicitous Character [4:19]
10. Allusions To Reality [3:10]
11. Truffaut's Personal Discovery [3:49]
12. Working With Children [1:51]
13. Deneuve's Lack of Experience [5:12]
14. Truffaut's Tolerant Vision [3:12]
15. Indirect Direction [5:45]
16. Learning From Hitchcock [3:05]
17. Production Problems [3:47]
18. A Sense Of Family [3:09]
19. A Song's Paradox [3:39]
20. Real Details of Life [6:22]
21. Truffaut's Anxieties [2:37]
22. Evoking Lubitsch [9:28]
23. A More Traditional Work [4:42]
24. Jean Marais Mirrored [2:28]
25. An Important Collaborator [4:56]
26. Truffaut's Ease With Deletions [5:20]
27. The John Travolta Connection [3:45]
28. A Consummate Actor [3:07]
29. Skeletons In The Closet [3:07]
30. A Literary Sensibility [4:04]
31. From Shadow Into Light [2:43]
1. Problems [3:08]
2. Period Specifics [4:55]
3. Women With Authority [6:23]
4. Critical Inspiration [5:58]
5. Class Distinctions [2:45]
6. Difficult Relationships [2:04]
7. Revolving Around Deneuve [5:43]
8. 1942 [1:29]
9. Ambilavence [4:19]
10. German Ordinance [3:10]
11. Underground Networks [3:49]
12. Authentic Roles [1:51]
13. Entertainment Trilogy [5:12]
14. Allusions [3:12]
15. Dreamers [5:45]
16. Subterfuge [3:05]
17. An Important Clue [3:47]
18. Blackouts [3:09]
19. Popular Cabarets [3:39]
20. Irregular Situation [6:22]
21. Interpretation And Re-Creation [2:37]
22. Return To Inspirations [9:28]
23. Commonplace Terms [4:42]
24. A Famous Scene [2:28]
25. Establishing Policies [4:56]
26. Cornered [5:20]
27. Reasons For The Raid [3:45]
28. A Flimsy Shelter [3:07]
29. Capturing The Spirit [3:07]
30. Truth [4:04]
31. Typical Truffaut [2:43]
1. Color Bars [5:40]

Brendon Hanley

One of France's greatest and most popular filmmakers, Fran?ois 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 M?tro (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 G?rard Depardieu (Cyrano de Bergerac), and film was shot by the extraordinary Nestor Almendros (My Night at Maud's, Days of Heaven). ~ Brendon Hanley, Rovi

Cast and Crew: René Dupré  Actor 
Laszlo Szabo  Actor 
Pierre Belot  Actor 
Alain Tasma  Actor 
Marcel Berbert  Actor 
Franck Pasquier  Actor 
Ewa Truffaut  Actor 
Renata  Actor 
Jessica Zucman  Actor 
Christian Baltauss  Actor 
Martine Simonet  Actor 
Jean-Jose Richer  Actor 
Jean-Pierre Klein  Actor 
Rose Thiéry  Actor 
Richard Bohringer  Actor 
Jacob Weizbluth  Actor 
Georges Delerue  Composer (Music Score) 
Suzanne Schiffman  Screenwriter 
François Truffaut  Director 
François Truffaut  Producer 
François Truffaut  Screenwriter 
Jean-Claude Grumberg  Screenwriter 
Catherine Deneuve  Actor 
Gérard Depardieu  Actor 
Jean Poiret  Actor 
Heinz Bennent  Actor 
Andréa Ferréol  Actor 
Paulette Dubost  Actor 
Sabine Haudepin  Actor 
Jean-Louis Richard  Actor 
Maurice Risch  Actor 

Country: France