The Last Metro
1980 film by François Truffaut · Released September 17, 1980
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. 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. 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. Upon its release in theatres on 17 September 1980, The Last Metro became one of Truffaut's more commercially successful films.
Cast ages at release (September 17, 1980)
- Catherine Deneuve, as Marion Steiner: 36
- Gérard Depardieu, as Bernard Granger: 31
- Jean Poiret, as Jean-Loup Cottins: 54
- Andréa Ferréol, as Arlette Guillaume: 33
- Paulette Dubost, as Germaine Fabre: 69
- Heinz Bennent, as Lucas Steiner: 59
- Richard Bohringer, as a Gestapo Officer: 38
- Sabine Haudepin, as Nadine Marsac: 24
- Jean-Louis Richard, as Daxiat: 53
- Maurice Risch, as Raymond Boursier: 37
- Christian Baltauss, as the actor replacing Bernard: 32