''Forbidden Games'' (french: Jeux interdits) is a 1952 French

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. Life and career Clément studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed hi ...

and based on

François Boyer François Boyer (1920 – 24 May 2003) was a French screenwriter. He achieved considerable success with his first attempt at screenwriting, ''Forbidden Games'' (1952). Initially, he found no studio interested in his work, so he redesigned the scre ...

's novel ''Jeux Interdits''. While not initially successful in France, the film was a hit elsewhere. It won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

, a

Special Award Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

in the United States, and a Best Film from any Source at the

British Academy Film Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

Plot

It is June 1940, during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

. After five-year-old Paulette's parents and pet dog die in a German air attack on a column of refugees fleeing

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, the traumatized child meets 10-year-old Michel Dollé whose peasant family takes her in. She quickly becomes attached to Michel. The two attempt to cope with the death and destruction that surrounds them by secretly building a small cemetery among the ruins of an abandoned watermill, where they bury her dog and start to bury other animals, marking their graves with crosses stolen from a local graveyard, including one belonging to Michel's brother. Michel's father first suspects that Michel's brother's cross was stolen from the graveyard by his neighbour. Eventually, the father finds out that Michel has stolen the cross. Meanwhile, the French

gendarmes Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

come to the Dollé household in order to take Paulette. Michel cannot bear the thought of her leaving and tells his father that he would tell him where the stolen crosses are, but in return he should not give Paulette to the gendarmes. When his father doesn't keep his promise, Michel destroys the crosses by throwing them into the stream. Paulette ends up going to a

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

camp, but at the end of the film is seen running away into a crowd of people in the camp, crying for Michel and then for her mother.

Cast

Georges Poujouly Georges Poujouly (20 January 1940 in Garches, Hauts-de-Seine – 28 October 2000 in Villejuif, Val-de-Marne) was a French actor who gained international acclaim as a child for his performance in the award-winning film ''Forbidden Games''. I ...

as Michel Dollé *

Brigitte Fossey Brigitte Florence Fossey (; born 15 June 1946) is a French actress. Early years The daughter of a schoolteacher, Fossey was five years old when she was cast by director René Clément to star in his film, ''Jeux interdits, Forbidden Games''.

as Paulette *

Amédée Amédée is a French masculine forename. Notable people with the forename include: Persons * Amédée, stage name of Philippe de Chérisey (1923-1985), French writer, radio humorist, surrealist and actor *Amédée Artus (1815-1892), French condu ...

as Francis Gouard *

Laurence Badie Laurence Badie (born 15 June 1928) is a French actress. She appeared in more than one hundred films since 1952. Selected filmography References External links * 1934 births Living people French film actresses {{France-actor- ...

as Berthe Dollé * Suzanne Courtal as Madame Dollé * Lucien Hubert as Dollé *

Jacques Marin Jacques Marin (9 September 1919 – 10 January 2001) was a French actor on film and television. Marin's fluency in English and his instantly recognisable features made him a familiar face in some major American and British productions (''Cha ...

as Georges Dollé * Pierre Merovée as Raymond Dollé * Louis Saintève as the Priest

Reception

The film was widely praised among critics, whose "howling protests" were heard at the

1952 Cannes Film Festival The 5th Cannes Film Festival was held from 23 April to 10 May 1952. As in the previous three festivals, the entire jury of this festival was made up of French persons, with Maurice Genevoix as the Jury President. The Grand Prix of the Festival w ...

where it was not an "official entry of France"; instead, it was "screened on the fringe of the Competition." The film was entered into competition at the 13th Venice International Film Festival; festival organizers at first considered the film ineligible because it had been screened at Cannes; it ended up receiving the

, the Festival's highest prize. Upon its release, it was lambasted by some, who said it was a "vicious and unfair picture of the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

ry of France"; in France, 4,910,835 theater tickets were sold, making the most successful film at the French box office in 1952. Following its December 1952 release in the United States,

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

called it a film with "the irony of a ''

Grand Illusion Grand Illusion may refer to: Music * ''Grand Illusion'' (album), by Nocturnal Rites, 2005 *''The Grand Illusion'', a 1977 album by Styx, and its title song *"Grand Illusion", a song from the 2016 album ''In the Now'' by Barry Gibb *"Grand Illusi ...

'', the authenticity of a ''

Harvest Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...

'' and the finesse of French films at their best"; according to Crowther, the film is a "brilliant and devastating drama of the tragic frailties of men, clear and uncorrupted by sentimentality or dogmatism in its candid view of life." At the

25th Academy Awards The 25th Academy Awards were held on March 19, 1953 at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and the NBC International Theatre in New York City, to honor the films of 1952. It was the first Oscars ceremony to be televised, the first ceremony ...

, ''Forbidden Games'' won an out-of-competition

. In December 1952, at the 24th National Board of Review Awards it was chosen as one of that year's five top foreign films. At the

1952 New York Film Critics Circle Awards 18th New York Film Critics Circle Awards January 17, 1953(announced December 29, 1952) ---- High Noon The 18th New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honored the best filmmaking of 1952. Winners *Best Film: **''High Noon'' *Best Actor: **Ralph R ...

, it won for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1954, it was BAFTA's Best Film from any Source; in 1955, at the

27th Academy Awards The 27th Academy Awards were held on March 30, 1955 to honor the best films of 1954, hosted by Bob Hope at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. '' On the Waterfront'' led the ceremony with twelve nominations and eight wins, including Best ...

was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Story The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1956. This award can be a source of confusion for modern audiences, given its co-existence with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenpl ...

;

Philip Yordan Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 – March 24, 2003) was an American screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who produced several films. He acted as a front for blacklisted writers although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarth ...

won, for his work on ''

Broken Lance ''Broken Lance'' is a 1954 American Western film directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Sol C. Siegel. The film stars Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark, and Katy Jurado. Shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope, the fil ...

''. Decades after its release,

David Ehrenstein David Ehrenstein (born February 18, 1947) is an American critic who focuses primarily on gay issues in cinema. Life and career Ehrenstein was born in New York City. His father was a Jew with Polish ancestors, and his mother was half-black and hal ...

called it "deeply touching" and wrote: " Fossey's is quite simply one of the most uncanny pieces of acting ever attempted by a youngster. Clément’s sensitivity doubtless accounts for much of what we see here, but the rest is clearly Fossey’s own."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

added the film to his ''

Great Movies ''The Great Movies'' is the name of several publications, both online and in print, from the film critic Roger Ebert. The object was, as Ebert put it, to "make a tour of the landmarks of the first century of cinema." ''The Great Movies'' was p ...

'' collection in 2005, writing: "Movies like Clement's "Forbidden Games" cannot work unless they are allowed to be completely simple, without guile, transparent. Despite the scenes I have described, it is never a tear-jerker. It doesn't try to create emotions, but to observe them."

Soundtrack

The main theme of the soundtrack is a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

arrangement of the

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

Home media

''Forbidden Games'' was released on Laserdisc in 1988 by

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

(under license of Turner and

MGM/UA Home Video MGM/UA may refer to: *Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American film and television production and distribution company **United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital p ...

), who later also released it on DVD in 2004 by license of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and

Turner Entertainment Co. Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

References

External links

* * *
''Forbidden Games: Death and the Maiden''
an essay by Peter Matthews at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbidden Games 1950s French-language films 1950s war drama films 1952 drama films 1952 films Best Film BAFTA Award winners Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Films about orphans Films about the Battle of France Films about funerals Films awarded an Academy Honorary Award Films based on French novels Films directed by René Clément Films set in 1940 Films set in cemeteries Films set in France Films shot in France Films with screenplays by Jean Aurenche Films with screenplays by Pierre Bost French black-and-white films French war drama films French World War II films Golden Lion winners 1950s French films