Although the translucency of form in La Guerre est finie appeared to mark a new departure, the film still had much in common with Resnais's previous features. Central to the film is still the struggle on the part of Diego to come to grips with his own past. Related to this, in a way much like Last Year At Marienbad, Diego seems caught in a pattern of repetition….

Diego's past, however, and this sense of repetition, are not simply matters of personal conjecture about the validity of some lost and private experience. They involve a public dimension as well….

In La Guerre est finie, however, for the first time in his career, Resnais's two main characters share a common past; and they are both engaged, in varying degrees, in an actual political activity. They can reminisce romantically about their first encounter in Italy and make tentative plans for...