Cinema
Forbidden Games
Jeux interdits
René Clément · 1952
Synopsis
In June 1940, on a road of the exodus, little Paulette, five years old, loses her parents and her dog in a German air attack. Taken in by a family of peasants, the Dollés, she befriends Michel, their ten-year-old son. The two children secretly set up an animal cemetery in a ruined mill, and to decorate it Michel begins stealing crosses from the village cemetery.
Context
The film is adapted from a novel by François Boyer. It was at first meant to be a short film, planned for an anthology film on childhood and war; Clément developed it into a feature on the advice of Jacques Tati. Brigitte Fossey and Georges Poujouly play the children. The theme played on the guitar by Narciso Yepes became famous. The film won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1952, then an Honorary Oscar.
Who it is for
A drama of an hour and a half, seen from a child's height, at once very tender and very cruel.
Prizes and reception
More than 4.9 million admissions in France; Honorary Oscar and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for best film.
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