Forbidden Games
1952 ‘Jeux interdits’ Directed by René Clément
Synopsis
War...and how it affects the lives of our children
A timeless evocation of childhood innocence corrupted, René Clément’s Forbidden Games tells the story of a young girl orphaned by war and the farm boy she joins in a fantastical world of macabre play. At once mythical and heartbreakingly real, this unique film features astonishing performances by its child stars and was honored with a special foreign language film Academy Award in 1952.
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Really good movie about a little girl who's parents and dog are killed in a bombing during WWII. She meets up with and befriends a boy and together they bury the dog. Not wanting the dog to be lonely, they start burying other animals as well. The child actors, especially the young girl were both excellent in their roles. The movie is both funny and sad at times.
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A powerful child-in-wartime drama set in France, 1940. Five year old Paulette (Brigitte Fossey) is orphaned after her parents are killed attempting to flee Paris during a German bombardment. Bewildered, she walks from the road with her dead puppy in her arms and meets up with a young farmboy, Michel (Georges Poujouly). Michel's God-fearing peasant family take her in, and after Michel's elder brother dies, the bond between Paulette and Michel strengthens and together they secretly build a cemetery in a disused mill for any dead animals or insects they find. They mark their graves with crosses stolen from the local church and the graves within its grounds - including the grave of Michel's brother.
It's a comedy, if you…
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“Forbidden Games,” directed by René Clément, is a very well done movie depicting the harsh reality of World War II. What’s especially interesting about this movie is it’s shown through the perspective of a child and how the young mind decides to cope with loss.
Paulette is a very young girl introduced in the beginning of the movie as she is fleeing Nazi bomb attacks with her parents. Her parents and dog are killed in the attacks. Because everything is happening so quickly, she has no time to grieve for her parents and she concerns herself with the death of her dog instead. As Paulette walks aimlessly about, dead dog in hand, she meets Michel, a provincial boy from the…
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A deeply affecting wartime fable that, like the very best of war films, presents us with the horrors as (barely) understood by a child. Startlingly good young leads lend an air of angelic grace to a story that turns out to be far more comical than I anticipated. The laughs—and they are many—don't prohibit the moments of intense drama, and Clémeni manages to espouse some pretty contentious views on the role and relevance of religion amid all the havoc. The balance between comedy and tragedy is so strikingly adept, keeping us consistently amused before reminding us of the difficulty of life in these times with all the sharpness of a slap to the face. Showing war through a kid's eyes…
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How did that dog die?
Compounding a little girl's sins. She runs after her dog with her parents screaming at her to come back. Screaming for the very good reason that the entire Luftwaffe; dive bombers, heavy bombers, fighter planes have decided to converge on a convoy of civilian vehicles; cars and carts, for some light relief refugee slaughter apparently. Screaming to stop her running across a bridge which seems to be the main target of the German Airforce. The child forces her mum and dad to chase her, which leads to them being strafed by a Messerschmidt. The girl seems to crush her dog to death. The film is unblinkingly savage in these regards. She seems to be blamed…
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Why It’s Essential — Largely considered to be one of René Clément’s best films.
Why You’ll Want to Skip It — If you’re expecting Pet Semetary.
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Of course having said that western films don't pay as much attention to children as 'world cinema' the next film I watch is a French classic about the impact of war on two young children.
There will be some who find almost any film about childhood sentimal but I thought this beautiful, touching, and lyrical. The opening scenes in which the young girl is orphaned, and the interaction between the girl and her temporary step brother are highlights. Ditto the ending. Sparkling black and white cinematography, a sly wit in the script and plotting, and great performances, not least by the youngstars. -
the little comedic touches work really well. i really hope Clement did't kill that puppy though, otherwise my rating would drop considerably.
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Really good movie about a little girl who's parents and dog are killed in a bombing during WWII. She meets up with and befriends a boy and together they bury the dog. Not wanting the dog to be lonely, they start burying other animals as well. The child actors, especially the young girl were both excellent in their roles. The movie is both funny and sad at times.
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Such a special, wonderful film and such an incredibly heartbreaking performance from the young actress Brigitte Fossey. Can't recommend this enough!
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Heart-wrenching.
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Look. I like movies. I'm not going into this expecting some war drama. I've seen other French films from the era, and I love them. I've seen other slow-moving dramas, and I love them. But this movie. This fucking movie. It is so boring I couldn't handle it. A sloth would get angry at this movie for moving too slowly, if it moves at all. There are some neighbors who the main characters hate, but it is never explained why, and the neighbors don't fucking do *anything* but react to the main characters being insane. But not fun insane. They are just paranoid weirdos in a way that's so boring it blew my mind. I quit with twenty minutes left to listen to A$AP Rocky instead. At least he fucking does something in the entire hour and twenty minutes of his album.
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This one really is perfect. Boy I watched some sad movies there for a while, didn’t I? This one has that very French brand of sweet, awkward strangeness that I seem to be unable to get enough of. I am glad this movie was not about what I thought it was about.
Also- the first movie that I noticed myself understanding bits of the French without the subtitles.
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How did that dog die?
Compounding a little girl's sins. She runs after her dog with her parents screaming at her to come back. Screaming for the very good reason that the entire Luftwaffe; dive bombers, heavy bombers, fighter planes have decided to converge on a convoy of civilian vehicles; cars and carts, for some light relief refugee slaughter apparently. Screaming to stop her running across a bridge which seems to be the main target of the German Airforce. The child forces her mum and dad to chase her, which leads to them being strafed by a Messerschmidt. The girl seems to crush her dog to death. The film is unblinkingly savage in these regards. She seems to be blamed…
-
Why It’s Essential — Largely considered to be one of René Clément’s best films.
Why You’ll Want to Skip It — If you’re expecting Pet Semetary.