Powerful

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

In occupied Paris, an actress (Catherine Deneuve) married to a Jewish theater owner (Heinz Bennent) must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.Truffaut commented "this film is not concerned merely with anti-semitism but intolerance in general" and a tolerance is shown through the characters of Jean Poiret playing a homosexual director and Andrea Ferreol plays a lesbian designer. As in Truffaut's earlier film Jules et Jim, 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.Although I was not terribly impressed by this movie, I did appreciate that it had both Deneuve and Depardieu. Deneuve is arguably the greatest French actress of the 1960s-1980s. Depardieu is rather young here and did not really become internationally famous or another decade, thanks to such fluff as "My Father the Hero". Seeing both together in one film is great.

Truffaut's The Last Metro may seem like nothing too stylish, and perhaps compared to his early work it isn't. He takes his time telling this story and building up the characters and how they're all in this situation together circa WW2 in France (perhaps his version of To Be or Not To Be, with less jokes). In general, this film's greatness comes from simply containing wonderful, moving performances. Though I didn't know his work super extensively before this (outside of The Serpent's Egg), Heinz Bennet is the revelation here, to quote the film's own a-hole Nazi critic. But this is not to say that Deneuve isn't also exceptional, mostly in a performance that requires some understatement and listening, which is key for an actor. Especially when her character has to hide something in a conversation. And it all has a fine sense of the period and what 'theater' means.The Last Metro is an example of one of a few films that can be both really hopeful and really dark. And it has one of the most charmingly subversive endings in modern cinema.

One criticism of this film is that it doesn't portray the German occupation with enough power. It is a film of little violence and a more subtle, restrained view of Paris during World War II. I have to believe that much of life went on during this time and this is a small cross section of that portrayal. The Germans sort of absorbed France and went about their business. Much of the horror goes on offstage, but the focus of the movie is what happens to a small theatre on a day to day basis. Catherine Deneuve is a woman who manages to pull something from her limited resources to maintain what she loves, including her husband who hides in the cellar of the theatre. She dominates the screen. Also, Gerard Depardieu is excellent as the young actor who works for the underground while those around him see him merely as a flippant letch. This has a lot of flaws, and perhaps a little trouble with verisimilitude, but it is an inspiring story of strength and endurance and is very enjoyable.

François Truffaut's homage to the theater was an Oscar and Golden Globe nominee and won a basketful of César Awards. It takes place in Nazi occupied Paris in 1942 and shows how the French coped with that tragedy. The anti-Jewish propaganda is continual throughout.Catherine Deneuve is magnificent as the wife of a theater owner (Heinz Bennent), who now runs it while keeping her Jewish husband hidden in the basement.Gérard Depardieu is her new leading man. He is stunningly suave and comedic as a womanizer, who also happens to be part of the Resistance. His repartee with Arnette (Andréa Ferréol) is hilarious.Bennent was excellent as the husband and director in the basement. Seeing him just before the play opened was just as I imagine it is for all directors.The music and cinematography were excellent also, and Truffaut's direction was flawless.A superb ending!