Via the New York Times: ""Le Temps Detruit" is a low-keyed, dreamlike recollection of the first year of World War II as recorded in the letters sent home by three French soldiers, each of whom was killed shortly after the "phony war" came to an end with the German offensive in May 1940. One of these was the father of the film's director. The two others were Paul Nizan, the writer and Communist, who became disillusioned with Marxism when the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed, and Maurice Jaubert, the composer who wrote the scores for a number of films, including Jean Vigo's "Zero de Conduit.""

A voice says: in the house next door, there was a lonely old man. When he died, diaries were found in which, probably throughout his life, he had recorded the various events of his daily life. A hand opens the one for 1968. A fine, manic handwriting lists: things seen on TV - talking about technical progress and happy tomorrows - a long walk with "Mère" through the streets of Montreuil, little anecdotes from the cartography workshop at the Institut Géographique National (where Monsieur M works), the fridge breaking down... Surprises too, like the first time he gives a coin to a beggar, or when "Père" brings the forgotten snack to work. And at regular intervals: "I wash myself thoroughly"... A well-adjusted life, in short, until early May, when echoes of the world in turmoil make their way into the notebook: riots, general strike...

Ever since a middle-class couple adopted one of their children, a peasant family has been arguing with its neighbors.