The Last Metro

The Last Metro (French: Le Dernier Métro) is a 1980 period drama film, co-written and directed by François Truffaut, that stars Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.

[4] Set in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942, the film follows the fortunes of a small theatre in the Montmartre quarter which keeps up passive resistance by maintaining its cultural integrity, despite censorship, antisemitism and material shortages.

[5] The title evokes two salient facts of city life under the Germans: fuel shortages led people to spend their evenings in theatres and other places of entertainment, but the curfew meant they had to catch the last Métro train home.

On his way to begin rehearsals at the Théâtre Montmartre, where he has secured the male lead role for an upcoming production, young Bernard Granger finds himself repeatedly rebuffed by a woman he attempts to flirt with on the street.

Their evenings are spent in the empty theater, where they engage in passionate discussions about the current production and make plans for Lucas to escape the country.

While the cast and crew celebrate their initial success at a nightclub, the same writer, at another gathering, falsely accuses Bernard of insulting Marion, leading to a physical altercation in the street.

On another occasion, two Gestapo agents, disguised as air raid wardens, conduct a search of the theater, prompting Marion to turn to Bernard in desperation for help in concealing Lucas and his belongings.

As he prepares to leave his dressing room for the last time, Marion enters to bid him farewell, and the two share a passionate encounter on the floor.

[16] As in Truffaut's earlier films Jules et Jim and Two English Girls, there is a love triangle between the three principal characters: Marion Steiner (Deneuve), her husband Lucas (Heinz Bennent) and Bernard Granger (Depardieu), an actor in the theatre's latest production.