Gérard Depardieu in his French New Wave days...

With all this drama about Gérard Depardieu becoming a Russian citizen following his tax row with the French government, I'm sure a lot of people just see a fat, old, sad man who seems to have been around forever. Alas, Mr Depardieu was quite something in his day, especially in François Truffaut's film of the late French New Wave Le Dernier Métro, starring alongside none other than the stunning Catherine Deneuve (for those unaware of French culture, basically the French Audrey Hepburn).

I'm currently studying this film in French (and have been since July... Literally going over every s i n g l e citation, personnage and thème) as part of the exam is an evaluative film essay. Surprisingly, I found myself really enjoying the film and, wanting to watch more New Wave films, bought Truffaut's La Nuit Américaine and Jean-Luc Goddard's Masculin Feminin. If you're into classic film and the evolution of film (the French New Wave took place at the same time as the Classic Hollywood Cinema era but couldn't be more different) give them a watch. I'd start out with Le Dernier Métro if I were you, it's probably the most, er, normal.

Set during the German Occupation of Paris during the Second World War, one of Truffaut's aims in this love story/drama/slight comedy was to show life in France and the theatre during this time.

Someone kindly uploaded the whole film to YouTube with English subtitles and surprisingly good quality, so here you go...

Bises,

Riona