Forbidden Games (1952)

            “Forbidden Games’ is a French film by Rene Clement (Is Paris Burning?).  It was adapted from Francois Boyer’s novel “Jeux Interdits”.  It was acclaimed when it was released and was the biggest box office draw in France in 1952.  This was despite some being offended by its treatment of peasants as rubes. It won several awards including the BAFTA for Best Film from Any Source.  It was given a special Academy Award from the Academy Awards.  It was originally intended as a short.  When Clement was convinced to lengthen it to a feature film, the child actors were brought back to film additional scenes.  Georges Poujoly was at work on another film for which he had cut his hair.  He had to wear a wig for the new scenes.  Bridgette Fossey had lost some baby teeth, so she was fitted with false ones.  Fossey became famous for her performance and it almost did not happen.  Her mother brought her to an audition for a 9-11 year old girl.  She was only six, but the director’s wife was so impressed with her that she convinced Rene to cast her and change the character’s age.

            The film is set in rural France in June, 1940.  The German blitzkrieg is in full swing and refugees crowd the roads.  A Stuka bombs them at a bridge.  Paulette’s (Fossey) parents and her dog are killed, but she miraculously survives and wanders off alone, carrying her dead pet.  She meets a boy named Michel who is searching for a cow.  His family takes her in.  She is something of an upper-class bauble to them.  She does not know she is above them in status, but we know it because they are ignorant peasants.  When Michel’s older brother is injured by a horse, they don’t have a clue what to do.  The family has an on-going feud with their next door neighbors.  It’s an insular rustic world that has not been touched by the war, yet.  Paulette and Michel develop a relationship that is basically puppy love.  She is not devious, but Michel is smitten with her and will  do anything for her.  If she was older, she would be a cinematic femme fatale.  Although the title of the film implies a forbidden sexual relationship, you have to stretch to imagine it.  The “game” refers to Paulette convincing Michel to help her create their own cemetery.  They steal crosses from the cemetery and bury assorted animals and insects.  It is their way of coping with the sudden advent of death in their previously innocent world.

            “Forbidden Games” is a simple film.  It is the kind of French film that you watch and say “okay, that was an entertaining trifle.”  Wait, what… You say it won awards as one of the best movies of 1952 and is considered a masterpiece?  To me, it is a simple tale of a boy and girl who play a game of burying dead animals and steal crosses to do it.  They are coping with the adult world intruding on their childhood world of innocence.  Since I am reviewing it as a war movie, I’ll spare you the film school essay.  As a war movie, it is nothing special.  If you want to stretch and consider a six-year-old to be suffering from PTSD, go with it.  I prefer to view it as a semi-creepy relationship between two kids.  The adults are asses who are more clueless than the kids.  Michel’s parents have to behave in a troubling way in order for the film to end with a punch.  And to avoid the movie being labeled a children’s movie.  In fact, I do not recommend it as a movie to watch with your kids.  It’s not Disney. But it’s also not a polemic on the inhumanity of war.

            This is part of my series of movies highlighting pre-teen characters and actors.  “Forbidden Games” belongs in the conversation about good movies focusing on children.  Paulette and Michel have a unique relationship when it comes to war movies.  The actors are wonderful with Fossey making a huge splash at the start of her career.  She made two more movies and then at age 10, her parents pressed pause to give her a normal education.  She resumed her career twelve years later and has had a good one.  However, it must be kind of tough to have the height of your career at age six. But, because of her parents, she did not become a troubled child star.

GRADE  =  C