April 29, 2009
The title 'The Last Metro' is a reference the ww2 French pastime of going to plays in the theatres to keep warm before catching the last train which left just after the end of the show. I assume this must have been an activity Truffaut partook in as a boy, since despite the dark ...( read more)undertones (war, collaborators, racism), there is much warm, joy and playfulness to be found in the film.
Marion Steiner (Catherine Deneuve), famed actress, runs the Montmartre theatre on behalf of her Jewish husband, the writer and director Lucas Steiner, who has reportedly fled to South America in the face of popularized antisemitism and social cleansing. The theatre is preparing a new play, based on Lucas's notes, and Marion and the new director, family confident Jean-Loup (Jean Poiret) hire Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu) as the leading man to play opposite Marion. He's a hulking man, "a little like Jean Gabin in La Bete Humain - very physical, and yet quite gentle" (the reference to La Bete Humain is just one of many nods from Truffaut to one of his idols, the great French filmmaker Jean Renoir).
The theatre is filled with a cast of interesting characters. The goofy but quick witted handyman, the groundskeeper and her young son, and other actors and actresses, and the collaborating critic, but supposed admirer of Lucas Steiner, Daxiat. Jean-Loup and Marion must go through him to get quick acess to approval for their latest play. It's an important one. It must be a success if the theatre is to survive.
All is not what it seems among the cast and crew, or the theatre even. Lucas Steiner has, in fact, not fled. He's been unable to, and is forced to live in the basement under the stage. Marion visits him daily. He listens to the radio, reads until his stomach must grow weary. One day he chips a hole into the wall to listen through the heating vent to the rehearsals above. He makes notes which he gives to Marion, changing his own play around, and tells her she must get Jean-Loup to make these changes - he does not know Lucas has not fled.
But that's not all. Bernard Granger is a member of the underground resistance. He operates with a partner, sometimes using theatre items to carry out resistance activities. He keeps this secret from his fellow actors and crew at the Monmartre. It is merely a subplot, one that would seem to be much more thrilling, yet it actually serves almost as tension breaker to the main plot.
In addition, there are gay cast members (of which, along with gypies and other undesireables, five million were murdered by the Nazis), and a love triangle. Marion falls in love with Bernard, yet still loves and is devoted to her husband. Perhaps it's not love with Bernard, perhaps it's just lust. This plot is steadily built upon, leading forward like a slow freight train making its way through various towns and stations.
Despite its selfawareness in other, more serious subjects, the play is the heart of the film, rebelliously titled 'Disappearance.' The Last Metro is a wonderful film about the backstage life of the theatre. Prop set up, rehearsal, comraderie, and so on. Yes, the theatre needs this play to be a success to survive, but Truffaut creats such a complete world behind the scenes with the actors and crew that when it comes time to collect the papers to read the reviews, we're hoping first and foremost for artistic success.
The Last Metro itself certainly was a success. Brilliant performances by Depardieu and Deneuve highlight the film, but the wonderful cast of characters really cements it. Truffaut, of course, directs with meticulous attention to detail. His set choices for the Montmartre theatre are supurb. I'm always reminded of Spielberg's experience working with Truffaut. Spielberg, typical of overexorbadent American filmmakers at that time (and now), shelled out millions to build a giant set for the UFO scenes in Close Encounters and then anxiously showed it to the great Truffaut who was entirely unimpressed. When they later walked into a lovely hotel, Truffaut exclaimed "Now this is a set!"
This was supposed to be the second in a trilogy of films based on the entertainment arts. Day for Night was the first (film). The Last Metro was obviously theatre. The third, L'Agence Magique was to be set in a music hall, and Truffaut had the script completed but was unable to attain financing before his death. Nevertheless, this was one of Truffaut's most loved later films. It was widely popular, sweeping the Cesars and was nominated for an Oscar in the US. It has dark humor and dark undertones, yet never allows the darkness to rule. One of the films funniest moments comes as one character, in a concluding montage, is one day arrested and released "due to his connections," but is arrested again the very next day "due to his connections." It's little idiosyncratic moments such as these that make Truffaut's films transcend expectations. Truffaut also always knew how to tell a great story in a way that courted yet defied convention. In short, the man knew how to make great films, and the long and short of The Last Metro - just a damn good time at the movies.
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