The Last Metro

Critical opinions remain mixed, but it's safe to say that 1980's The Last Metro doesn't rank with The 400 Blows or Jules & Jim as one of Francois Truffaut's masterpieces. Still, The Last Metro is definitely worth seeing, especially in the Blu-ray version presenting the film in breathtaking high-def clarity so rich that the warm-hued cinematography by Truffaut's frequent collaborator Nestor Almendros almost pops off the screen. Add the chemistry and star-wattage of Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu and you've got French filmmaking power of the highest order in the service of a character study that's a little too slight to have lasting impact. Deneuve plays Marion, manager and star of a Parisian theater company during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Her Jewish husband directs their latest play by proxy while remaining hidden in the theater's basement, setting the stage for additional tension as Marion grows secretly attracted to Bernard (Depardieu), the company's new and rising star. As a tribute to creativity under pressure, The Last Metro (a reference to the final train before Nazi-imposed nighttime curfew) is filled with Truffaut's distinctive attention to character detail and acknowledgement of human folly, but the Nazi threat remains oddly sanitized, with the end result being that the real dangers of war seem largely abstract rather than frightfully palpable. What remains, however, is Truffaut's delicate touch with France's finest actors, which offers its own considerable satisfactions. Available in both standard DVD and Blu-ray formats, the Criterion Collection's release of The Last Metro includes a bevy of excellent extras, including two commentary tracks (a new one by Truffaut scholar Annette Insdorf, and an archival recording featuring Depardieu, historian Jean-Pierre Azema, and Truffaut biographer Serge Toubiana), a deleted scene, French TV talk-show excepts (featuring interviews with Truffaut, Deneuve, Depardieu, and others), an archival interview with Almendros, and the playful 1958 short film “The History of Water,” co-directed by Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. Recommended, overall. (J. Shannon)