‘The Last Metro’ Wins Cesar as Top Film of the ‘80s

Francois Truffaut’s 1981 film “The Last Metro” was named France’s best movie of the 1980s today by the 2,500 film professionals who also pick winners of the annual Cesar awards, the French Oscars.

In ceremonies Sunday, “Too Beautiful for You,” the story of a salesman who drops his beautiful wife for a passionate affair with his dumpy secretary, won five Cesars, including best film, best director and best screenplay.

“The Last Metro” starred Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve as an actor and a theater owner during German-occupied Paris.

Depardieu was chosen best actor of the decade. The award for best actress of the decade went to Isabelle Adjani for her performances in such films as “Camille Claudel.”

The 1980s “Super Cesars” were announced today, one day after the 1989 Cesar award ceremonies.

At Sunday’s ceremonies, Bertrand Blier won best director for “Too Beautiful for You,” and Carole Bouquet, who played the wife, was named best actress.

Depardieu was nominated for best actor in “Beautiful,” but the award went to Philippe Noiret for his portrayal of a French army officer in the aftermath of World War I in “Life and Nothing Else.”

The fifth award for “Too Beautiful for You” went to Claudine Merlin for best editing.

Best foreign film was “Dangerous Liaisons,” by the British director Stephen Frears, an adaptation of the 18th-Century French epistolary novel, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” by Choderos de Laclos.