The Last Metro

In Paris in 1942, a small theatre in Montmartre is trying to keep working. Lucas Steiner, its Jewish director, appears to have fled and is actually hidden in the cellar, while his wife Marion runs the stage and the business alone with him listening to rehearsals from below. The title rests on two facts of the Occupation: fuel shortages pushed people into theatres in the evening, and the curfew meant everyone had to catch the last Métro home. Truffaut had wanted to make a film set during the Occupation for years; his uncle and grandfather had both been in the Resistance. What revived it was Jean Marais's 1975 autobiography, and the famous scene where Bernard beats up a collaborationist critic comes directly from something that happened to Marais. Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu star. At the 6th César Awards it turned twelve nominations into ten wins, including Best Film, and it was nominated for Best Foreign Film at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 88 percent. It sold over 3.3 million tickets in France and grossed 23.3 million dollars worldwide. Who it is for: viewers who like theatre and occupation handled together. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the violence of the period. The film keeps the conflict backstage and the outside threat mostly stays at the level of implication.