FORBIDDEN GAMES (JEUX INTERDITS)

France, 1952, 80 minutes, Black and white.
Brigitte Fossey.
Directed by Rene Clement.

Forbidden Games is something of a classic. While it has lost its original impact from the early post-war years, it is nevertheless a very moving story of wartime and war suffering. The film centres on two children, one a farm-boy and the other a little girl, whose parents are killed in German strafing and who is found and taken care of by the farm people. The children's friendship and their playing at burying dead animals and stealing crosses to put over the graves is a comment on the game of war that is going on around them. Clement also gives rather an unflattering picture of the French peasants - mean, jealous and fairly ignorant conducting their own petty wars. The film concludes sadly and leaves an anguish in an audience's heart.

Clement is a director who has made several worthwhile films, for instance Gervaise, Full Sun, Rider on the Rain, as well as some not successful like, Is Paris Burning? The little girl, Brigitte Fossey, also appeared in Gene Kelly's film, The Happy Road.

1. What kind of a war film was this?

2. How did the picture of rural life, the peasants working and then the strafing of the refugees, affect you?

3. How were the peasants presented in the film, e.g. the feuds, jealousies about the next-door hero, churchgoing, confessions?

4. How did the friendship of the children, Michael and Paulette, contrast with the adults?

5. Were the children convincing in their acting? Was the director's treatment of the children sentimental?

6. What did the title of the film mean?

7. What effect did the children's cemetery and searching for crosses make on you and on the theme of war and death?

8. Comment on the nature of friendship and kindness presented in the film.

9. What was the meaning of the sad ending of the film? Is sadness in war inevitable and uncontrollable?

10. Was this an effective antiwar film?