“The War Is Over / La Guerre est finie”, Original Japanese First Release Movie Poster 1967, ATG, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) S42

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the first Japanese release of Alain Resnais’ The War Is Over (La Guerre est finie / 戦争は終った) in 1967. Starring Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin, Geneviève Bujold, Michel Piccoli, and Jean Dasté, the film was written by Spanish novelist and former anti-Franco resistance activist Jorge Semprún.

Distributed in Japan jointly by Towa and the legendary Art Theatre Guild (ATG), this exceptionally sophisticated poster is a superb example of the radical graphic language that characterised Japanese promotion of European art-house cinema during the late 1960s.

Film background

Set in 1965, The War Is Over follows Diego Mora, played by Yves Montand, a veteran Spanish communist revolutionary who has spent decades operating clandestinely from exile in Paris against the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

After crossing the French-Spanish border using a false identity, Diego learns that his underground network may be compromised. Over the course of several tense days, he begins to question not only the organisation’s tactics but also the political assumptions that have governed much of his adult life.

His relationship with his partner Marianne, played by Ingrid Thulin, and his encounter with a younger generation of political radicals force him to confront the gulf between revolutionary idealism and the realities of a struggle that appears increasingly detached from contemporary Spain.

Rather than functioning as a conventional political thriller, the film becomes an intricate meditation on political commitment, exile, memory, ageing, ideological doubt, love, and the psychological cost of living permanently in opposition.

Directed by Alain Resnais, the filmmaker behind Hiroshima mon amour and Last Year at Marienbad, the film was written by Jorge Semprún, himself a veteran of the Spanish Communist underground. That personal experience gives the film an unusual degree of political and emotional authenticity.

Poster design

This original Japanese B2 is an outstanding example of 1960s ATG-era graphic design, using photography, typography, negative space, and a single aggressive colour accent rather than conventional painted star portraits.

The upper half is dominated by an enormous high-contrast black-and-white photograph of Yves Montand and Ingrid Thulin embracing on a stairwell.

The image is intimate yet uneasy. Thulin’s face is visible over Montand’s shoulder, her expression suggesting emotional dependence, uncertainty, and exhaustion, while Montand himself is presented almost entirely from behind.

This withholding of the protagonist’s face is particularly effective. Rather than presenting Diego as a conventional heroic revolutionary, the poster emphasises the emotional burden and anonymity of clandestine political life.

Across Montand’s back, the Japanese title is rendered in expressive white brush lettering:

「戦争は終った」
“The War Is Over”

The hand-rendered calligraphy contrasts sharply with the mechanical quality of the photographic reproduction, introducing a distinctly Japanese visual element into the otherwise European modernist composition.

The red vertical axis

One of the strongest graphic elements is the narrow scarlet-red vertical line running through the lower-right portion of the design.

Along this axis, a sequence of small photographic fragments shows the film’s central characters in moments of intimacy, anxiety, and confrontation.

Beside them appears the original French title:

“LA GUERRE EST FINIE”

followed by:

“UN FILM DE ALAIN RESNAIS”

The red strip functions almost like a cinematic editing line, fragmenting the poster into separate moments in time. It echoes Resnais’ own fascination with memory, discontinuity, subjective experience, and temporal fragmentation.

The composition therefore does more than advertise the film—it visually reflects Resnais’ filmmaking language.

Awards and Japanese campaign

The poster prominently records the film’s prestigious international recognition, including its Prix Louis-Delluc, one of the most important awards in French cinema.

It also identifies the film as a participant in the 1967 Japanese Arts Festival, reinforcing the seriousness with which the film was presented to Japanese audiences.

The main credits identify:

「監督＝アラン・レネ」
“Directed by Alain Resnais”

together with principal performers:

イヴ・モンタン — Yves Montand
イングリット・チューリン — Ingrid Thulin
ジュヌヴィエーヴ・ビジョルド — Geneviève Bujold
ミシェル・ピッコリ — Michel Piccoli

The original ATG and TOWA distribution emblems remain clearly visible at lower right, providing excellent first-release provenance.

ATG and the Japanese art-house movement

The Art Theatre Guild of Japan played a fundamental role in introducing challenging international cinema to Japanese audiences while simultaneously supporting the emerging Japanese avant-garde.

ATG distributed films by major European filmmakers alongside groundbreaking Japanese works and later became directly involved in producing films by directors including Nagisa Ōshima, Toshio Matsumoto, Shūji Terayama, Yoshishige Yoshida, Akio Jissoji, and others.

Its posters frequently rejected the conventional commercial language of mainstream movie advertising in favour of experimental photography, radical typography, asymmetric compositions, and contemporary graphic-design principles.

This The War Is Over poster exemplifies that aesthetic perfectly.

The combination of Resnais, Montand, French Left Bank cinema, Towa and ATG gives the piece considerable crossover appeal to collectors of European cinema and Japanese post-war graphic design.

Cultural significance

The War Is Over occupies an important position in Resnais’ career.

Where Hiroshima mon amour and Last Year at Marienbad explored memory through highly abstract structures, this film applies many of the director’s formal concerns to an overtly political narrative.

At its centre is the question of what happens when a revolutionary movement begins to become part of the history it is attempting to change.

The film’s mixture of political realism and subjective memory made it a significant work of 1960s European political cinema, while its Japanese release through ATG places this poster firmly within one of the most important periods of international art-house culture in Japan.

Condition

Very Good+ / Excellent.

The poster remains visually impressive, with deep black tones, strong photographic contrast, crisp white typography, and a vivid red accent line.

The folds and subtle signs of use are entirely consistent with a genuine working Japanese cinema poster from 1967, and once professionally framed the poster will display exceptionally well.

Please review the photographs carefully—they show the exact poster for sale.

This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 1967 first-release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a modern reprint.

It is approximately 59 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.

Certificate of Authenticity included.