The Last Metro – Le Dernier Métro (1980)

The Last Metro - Le Dernier Métro (1980)

Taglines: A story of love and conflict.

The Last Metro movie storyline. Set during the German occupation of Paris during the Second World War, it tells the story of Lucas Steiner, a Jewish theatre director and his Gentile wife, Marion Steiner, who struggles to keep him concealed from the Nazis in their theatre cellar while she performs both his former job as the director and hers as an actress.

The title The Last Metro refers to the fact that during the occupation it was imperative that Parisians catch the last train (Métro) home. This was to avoid breaking the strict curfew imposed by the Nazis. During the winter months of occupied Paris there was no way to obtain coal, and the only manner in which people could keep warm was attending plays in theatres, which ended just before the last train left.

The Last Metro (French: Le Dernier Métro) is a 1980 drama film made by Les Films du Carrosse, written and directed by the French filmmaker François Truffaut, and starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.

The Last Metro - Le Dernier Métro (1980)

The film is set during the time of the French occupation and demonstrates passive resistance through culture in the story of a small Parisian theatre surviving censorship, antisemitism and material shortages to emerge triumphant at the war’s end.

In 1981, the film won ten Césars for: best film, best actor (Depardieu), best actress (Deneuve), best cinematography, best director (Truffaut), best editing, best music, best production design, best sound and best writing. It received Best Foreign Film nominations in the Academy Awards and Golden Globes.

The Last Metro was one of Truffaut’s most successful productions, grossing $3,007,436 in the United States; this was also true in France, where it had 3,384,045 admissions, making it one of his most successful films in his native country.

The Last Metro - Le Dernier Métro Movie Poster (1980)

The Last Metro – Le Dernier Métro (1980)

Directed by: François Truffaut
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Poiret, Andréa Ferréol, Paulette Dubost, Jean-Louis Richard, Sabine Haudepin
Screenplay by: François Truffaut, Suzanne Schiffman
Production Design by: Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko
Cinematography by: Néstor Almendros
Film Editing by: Martine Barraqué
Costume Design by: Lisele Roos
Music by: Georges Delerue
Distributed by: Gaumont, United Artists Classics
Release Date: September 17, 1980

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