What filmmaking techniques does The Last Metro use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Last Metro (1980): Romantic Triangle Geometry, Sound as Plot Device, Staged Performance Within Film and Single Space as Dramatic Stage.

Who directed The Last Metro?

François Truffaut directed The Last Metro, released in 1980. CineCode also covers The 400 Blows (1959), Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Jules and Jim (1962), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970).

What films are similar to The Last Metro?

Films that share techniques with The Last Metro include The Green Mile (1999), Léon: The Professional (1994), Casablanca (1942), There Will Be Blood (2007).

Drama · Romance · War

The Last Metro

François Truffaut, 1980

In occupied Paris, actress Marion runs a theater while her Jewish husband, the director, hides in the cellar. A new leading man, Bernard, arrives and she falls for him. Truffaut keeps most of the film inside one theater, so the stage and the war share the same walls.

2 Narrative 1 Sound 1 Cinematography

At a glance

The Last Metro is a 1980 drama, romance and war film directed by François Truffaut. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 sound and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Green Mile uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Romantic Triangle Geometry

Building a love story around 3 people, where each pair has its own relationship and the third person always gets in the way. Your sympathy shifts because each of them has a fair claim.

How this film uses it

Marion loves her hidden husband Lucas but becomes infatuated with Bernard, the new actor, whom Lucas only knows from a headshot and overheard talk. Every pair has a real bond, and the third person always gets in the way. You sympathize with all three.

Where to see it

The rehearsals. Marion works with Bernard on stage while Lucas listens from below and plans the production in secret.

Sound

Sound as Plot Device

Making a sound, voice or call drive the story itself. A phone line, a mimicked noise or a spliced recording changes what characters do or believe.

How this film uses it

Lucas hears the rehearsals through a rigged heating vent in the cellar. The sound is his only link to his own theater. What he hears of Marion and Bernard shapes how he feels about both of them.

Where to see it

The heating vent. Lucas overhears the actors from the cellar, and the sound is all he has of the production.

Narrative

Staged Performance Within Film

Embedding a play or musical inside the film, so the staged piece mirrors or comments on the characters' real lives.

How this film uses it

The play the company rehearses runs through the whole film, and its opening night is a major event. The review that follows is a political attack on the show. The staged piece and the war both threaten the theater.

Where to see it

Opening night. The show draws a full house, and the next morning a collaborationist newspaper condemns it as "Jewish".

Cinematography

Single Space as Dramatic Stage

Setting most of the drama in one defined place, such as a corridor, hideout or backstage area. Its layout and lighting shape the action and become a main visual character.

How this film uses it

Almost everything happens in or under the Théâtre Montmartre. The cellar hides Lucas, the stage hosts the show and the dressing rooms hold the secrets. The theater turns into a small world shaped by fear.

Where to see it

The Gestapo search. Two agents disguised as air raid wardens search the theater, and Marion asks Bernard to help hide Lucas.

Questions

The Last Metro: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does The Last Metro use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Last Metro (1980): Romantic Triangle Geometry, Sound as Plot Device, Staged Performance Within Film and Single Space as Dramatic Stage.
Who directed The Last Metro?: François Truffaut directed The Last Metro, released in 1980. CineCode also covers The 400 Blows (1959), Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Jules and Jim (1962), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970).
What films are similar to The Last Metro?: Films that share techniques with The Last Metro include The Green Mile (1999), Léon: The Professional (1994), Casablanca (1942), There Will Be Blood (2007).

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