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Alain René’s fourth film is so disappointing that it threatens to overshadow his three previous masterpieces. ★★★☆☆
The war ended, 1966 It is Alain René’s fourth feature film that premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. After a commercial failure Muriel or Return Time The director chose a decisive path for the next film. Not only was the main actor, Yves Montagne, the main star, but Ingrid Thulin also brought celebrity power to the film. The latter’s presence secured Swedish financing courtesy of Europa Film, and the film was one of the French-Swedish co-productions at the time. Another important difference from the previous films was screenwriter Jorge Semprun. This was his first film script, but he later created scripts for Costa-Gavras films. especially Z (1969).
Montand plays Diego, a Spanish communist and Spanish Civil War veteran who lives in exile in France and works as an undercover operative for Spain’s underground Communist Party. Diego travels between France and Spain under a false identity to organize revolutionary action against the Franco regime. In Paris, he begins a romantic relationship with Nadine (Genevieve Bujold), a young student, while maintaining a relationship with his longtime partner, Marianne (Ingrid Thulin). The latter is a book editor and is dying to have a stable relationship with Diego. Through Nadine, he comes into contact with a gang of young revolutionaries whose radical tactics differ from his. The war is over It aims to combine the personal and the political.
The war is over
As the fourth entry in my series looking at Alain René’s filmography, it was the hardest to sink my teeth into. I saw the film for the first time relatively late, in 1986. familiarity The war is overWhich was his weakest film at the time, was a strange experience. The film immediately reveals its main weakness, Giovanni Fusco’s first credit score, which features an all-male chorus. Jorge Semprun’s screenplay is simplistic by Resnais standards. The writing remains bluntly political, dealing with ideological conflicts and revolutionary frustrations with a heavy hand. The complex themes of exile and commitment are reduced to predictable generational clashes and nasal dialogue. The result lacks the poetic ambiguity and formal boldness found in Renés’ earlier collaborations.
Resnais simplifies his direction in a way that becomes frustration versus genius Hiroshima mon love, Last year in Marienbadand Muriel. Radical temporal fragmentation and innovative narrative structures largely disappear. In their place appears a surprisingly direct approach that borders on the ordinary. Even his attempts at innovation, the brief flashes of quick images that show people or events before Diego fully meets them, register as clumsy and half-hearted. These elements are transplanted into an otherwise standard political drama rather than expanding on its previous formal splendor. The film never reaches the haunting density and intellectual power of its predecessors. Scenes unfold with a linearity that feels more pared-down than refined.
fifty shades of grey
Even Sacha Vierne’s cinematography, a reliable force in Rennes’ earlier films, seems less intriguing here. The visual palette leans heavily on muted grays and functional compositions that serve the story without adding layers of meaning. The tracking shots and zooms lack the hypnotic precision or spatial distortion that elevated previous works. The whole thing comes across as competent but unmemorable. The camera work adequately supports the story, but fails to evoke the depth or atmospheric tension found in the director’s previous masterpieces. Music amplifies these issues. Hiroshima mon amour’s composer, Giovanni Fusco, provides a score that remains opaque throughout. Passages featuring male choruses aim for ceremonial or revolutionary weight but deliver neither.
An artistic failure becomes an American success
Further problems arise with how the film handles personal relationships. Diego’s connections with Marian and Nadine remain underdeveloped and distant. Emotional scenes tend to favor exposition or ideological contrast over genuine intimacy. The romantic and domestic threads are secondary and unconvincing. This weakens the balance between personal life and political action. Montand turns in the lead, but even his solid performance can’t make up for the surrounding emptiness.
The film’s astonishing commercial success in the United States only underscores these shortcomings. The restraints, including Semprun’s overt politicking and René’s restrained style, clearly resonated with American audiences in the mid-1960s. A similar thing would happen later with the Resnais film. The absence of modernism demanding the earlier triumphs of the Rennes was not a problem for them. What is considered a failed experiment elsewhere clearly struck a chord with audiences as deeply political cinema. The combination of recognizable stars, straightforward plots and shallow political themes likely contributed to its appeal in this market. Semprun’s script was even nominated for an Oscar.
finally, The war is over stands as an unfortunate step in René’s work. The star power doesn’t hide how the personal-political mix, hampered by a weak script and restrained direction, fails to ignite either emotionally or, especially, intellectually. For those who consider Rennes a favorite director, this entry in his canon is even more disappointing. The film offers occasional moments of competence, but never approaches the heights of the director’s earlier work. The director’s next film also included choral music, but in a drastically different way. Almost everything else would be different.
