Le dernier métro / The Last Metro

Director François Truffaut provides an entertaining tale of everyday life in Paris during World War II. Opening in 1942 during the German occupation of France, the film follows the fortunes of a small theatre in the Montmartre area of Paris which puts up resistance to the Nazi authorities. The theater's director is a German Jew (Heinz Bennent) who has already fled from Nazi Germany, only to go into permanent hiding in the basement of his theater. Upstairs, his wife (Catherine Deneuve) spreads the rumor that he has fled to South America. Then she relays his instructions as the theater attempts to save itself from bankruptcy by presenting a new production. 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 subway, or Métro, train home.