STORY STUDY - CRITERION WEEK - 462. “The Last Metro”

When entering a theater house, there’s bound to be secrets behind the walls; when you’re a citizen living in a place that’s been occupied by a foreign, genocidal country, it’s better if those secrets never get out.

Directed by François Truffaut, and collectively written by Truffaut, Suzanne Schiffman, and Jean-Claude Grumberg, The Last Metro tells the story of Marion Steiner, the de facto owner of Théâtre Montmartre, a playhouse in 1942 France. Her husband and original owner/director, Lucas Steiner, has fled the country because of his Jewish heritage.

Steiner, and her cast and crew struggle to put on their latest play, from making sure it is permitted by the censors to making sure the play is a hit with the audiences.

At night, Steiner goes down to the basement of the theater where Lucas is hiding to comfort him and keeping him safe.

What makes this film unique in its story is that it really is about a theater troupe trying to put on a play. There is no negotiating with the Germans, nor do the Germans give them any trouble as a main conflict. In fact, they actually do put on their play with the help of Lucas, who overhears their rehearsals, and relays his direction to Marion, who passes off his direction as suggestions to the play’s actual director.

Never once does the theater ever get involved in the war as part of the story, though being part of the resistance is one of the character’s decisions, Bernard Granger, as part of his arc.

The antagonist is theater critic Daxiat, who is an anti-Semite. He’s a character that every artist has in their life as the bane of their existence, and as such, someone to root against.

I want to say that the film flows in a way if it was a slice-of-life drama film, if that life was during wartime. When the film decides to incite tension, it honestly doesn’t go anywhere, which is probably the only flaw I can spot in this film.

There’s a scene where Marion meets a Nazi soldier, who shakes her hand; however, he never lets go of the hand. As the music rises, as well as Marion’s fear, she is finally able to free herself from the soldier; no repercussions are created from such a scene. There’s a scene where Bernard physically confronts Daxiat for his bad review of their play (their only bad review), and while Marion is upset at Bernard for doing this, the theater itself is still safe, at least from Daxiat himself.

I discovered The Last Metro when exploring the Criterion Collection a long time ago, and recently re-watched it to write this post. While the racist rantings of Daxiat irritate me, he’s never the focus; in fact, he’s not in it as much as you might think. Remember, he may be the antagonist, but he’s more of a nuisance than he is an obstacle when it all comes down to it.

I never talk about the bonus features that come along with Criterion Collection products, but I’m making an exception for this case. Every film comes with an essay by a professional within the film industry, be it another filmmaker or a film critic, who explains why the film deserves its praise. The author of The Last Metro’s essay, who I was unaware of when I bought this film, is rather infamous in the world of film criticism at the time of this post. I’m not going to bother to write out his name, but you can see it on the link provided below. Even though this film critic praises this film, you should NEVER trust a single word that this critic ever says.

The Last Metro is a film that shows that art is worth seeing and performing, no matter what is happening in the world. When a crew comes together to create it, it is magical. Its power to make people forget their troubles is still as hypnotizing now as it was then.