The events of war not only carry with them the pains of death and destruction, but a near-total collapse of our greater humanity. For some, the need to survive drives them towards the unthinkable, forcing them to step over their neighbor in order to survive. Forbidden Games, the 1952 classic by René Clément, is a story about the innocence of children and how it can survive through the most unthinkable and painful of moments. It is not, however, an uplifting tale of triumph over adversity, but a tragic look at how children are capable of coping with an introduction to death.
The film opens in June 1940 on the French countryside. Hundreds of people are fleeing the cities as the Nazi forces are invading. As the people flee, the Luftwaffe soars overhead indiscriminately bombing civilians. The young child Paulette, played by a young Brigitte Fossey, is accompanying her parents along with her puppy to flee the invading evil. When their car breaks down forcing the family to flee on foot, Paulette runs off when her puppy does. Rushing to protect their child, Paulette’s parents are gunned down by the Luftwaffe and in the chaos the child’s puppy also perishes. Before long, Paulette wanders the countryside alone carrying with her the corpse of her beloved pet. She’s eventually discovered by Michel Dollé (Georges Poujouly), a young boy who lives with his family. The Dollé family soon takes in young Paulette, and a tight bond is soon formed between the two children in the midst of the death and tragedy that surrounds him.
Of course, the opening scenes of Forbidden Games are a gut-punch of tragedy, setting the stage for what’s to follow. It’s very difficult to stomach, even in fictitious form, watching a young girl lose both her parents and beloved pet within the opening minutes, and the tragic elements build upon themselves from there. Later in the film, Michel and Paulette begin to create a pet cemetery of their own, allowing Paulette to have some semblance of closure in regards to her deceased puppy. This introduction to death is also an introduction to religion for the young girl, who soon finds herself fascinated by different crosses that she wants to adorn the new cemetery the children have created. Michel and Paulette soon start collecting crosses from the local cemetery for their own needs, leading to a misunderstanding between the Dollé patriarch, played by Lucien Hubert, and his neighbor Goudard, played by André Wasley.
There is something darkly comic about these children desecrating graves and committing minor sacrilege for their own emerging graveyard. Thankfully, there is more humor in Forbidden Games than one would assume, especially following that opening. The feud between the Goudard and Dollé households is comical more often than not, and reaches its head when the father of the Dollé clan desecrates the grave of Goudard’s wife. Little one-liners here and there help cut the tragic tension that runs through every scene of the film.
Clément, who co-wrote the story with Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, and François Boyer, doesn’t shy away from being critical of his countryman’s responses to the Nazi invaders with the character of Francis Gouard (Amédée), who deserts his post in the face of the German Messerschmitts. Nor do they shy away from inserting a minor critique of religion with the devoutly religious families failing to turn the other cheek in their increasingly absurd feud.
The real heart of Forbidden Games is the relationship between Michel and Paulette, with both giving some of the finest work ever committed to the screen from child actors. Brigitte Fossey is wholly convincing as the young Paulette, working with a naturalistic sense that you rarely see in a performance from somebody so young. As her counterpart, Georges Poujouly works just as well, though his character doesn’t carry with him the tragedy that follows Paulette. Michel is a young boy of youthful angst and rebellion, but he typically employs his rebellious spirit in service of Paulette. He is hopelessly devoted to this young soul. Their bond, their innocence is why Forbidden Games has endured for over half a century.
The brand new restoration of Forbidden Games spearheaded by Rialto Picture lovingly gives new life to the black and white cinematography of Robert Juillard. And the newly translated subtitles give the dialogue a more naturalistic feeling than would’ve been experienced in 1952. However, just because Forbidden Games looks better than ever on the screen that doesn’t mean that the film is anymore easy on the spirit.
There’s a lot to celebrate about Forbidden Games – it’s reaffirming belief in the innocence of childhood; people (sometimes) doing good for others in need. But the increasingly bleak layers of tragedy still make Forbidden Games a tough movie to experience as it’s really about children learning and coping with confronting death. More than anything, Forbidden Games has a truly heartbreaking, unsatisfying ending that leaves one ready to exclaim, “That’s it?!?” Forbidden Games is meant to be a bitter pill to swallow, as any story that is about both childhood and death should be. René Clément crafts a special work featuring some of the finest child acting ever to appear on screen. All it takes is the sad eyes of Brigitte Fossey and the devotion shown by Georges Poujouly to get you teary-eyed. Forbidden Games is a movie that can uplift your spirit with the aspirational innocence of children while simultaneously breaking your heart at the cruel world that will crush that tenderness.
Forbidden Games begins a one-week run at the Nuart Theater in Los Angeles beginning on August 28, 2015.