Subway 4K 1985

One of the best films of the French New Wave—the cinema of the 1980s that heralded new freedoms, new principles of life, a new style of filming, and new heroes.

Delon and Marais, the stately, noble beauties on white horses with swords in their hands, defending their honor and winning the love of a beautiful lady, were replaced by the characters played by the actors in Subway—the outcasts of the big world, punkish young Frenchmen who have lost their sense of time, hiding in the endless corridors of the French metro, unhappy but free people who despise all the conventions of the “upper” world and wage their own war—though no longer for honor, but for existence. A completely different kind of love, a completely different France, completely different tears.

This is a film by Luc Besson. It is an action film. Dynamic, exciting, original - with echoing chases in the metro tunnels, in cars and on trains. With guns and people in black suits. This is a film about love - the kind that is impossible because it arose between people from different worlds. This is a film about freedom, which makes you feel happy, but ...

This is a Luc Besson film—what else is there to say? Besson was the real Besson back then, doing what he dreamed of, working for people, not for money, at least that's the impression you get when you watch the film.

A whole constellation of French New Wave actors shines here. Christopher Lambert with his wild hairstyle, willpower, and steel in his suspicious but kind gaze. The angelically beautiful Isabelle Adjani—gentle but firm, unhappy and happy, a restless soul who cannot find her place in any of these worlds. Jean Reno, with his impenetrable gaze, Herculean proportions, and crazy smile with his trademark drumsticks, was already an actor who knew how to attract attention. Richard Bohringer, with the perpetually misty, teary eyes of a stoned drug addict and a sarcastic smile. Even Michel Galabru changed his silly Captain Gilbert (The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez) and played a quite intelligent, albeit lazy, policeman.

Add to all of the above the captivating music and touching ending, and you will understand why this film became a cult classic for an entire generation of French people.