Forbidden Games (1952)

Directed by René Clément. Starring Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Jacques Marin, Laurence Badie, Amédée, Suzanne Cortal, Lucien Hubert, Pierre Merovée, Louis Saintève.

The devastation of war seen through the eyes of two children in the French countryside as the second World War rages around them. One is a refugee (Fossey) whose parents and dog were killed in her vicinity by a German plane as they fled Paris, the other is a peasant boy (Poujouly) who helps her cope with the confusion and loss by devising a “game” as distraction by building a cemetery and performing elaborate rituals for dead animals that they find. Very easily could have been a tonally-confused, maudlin tearjerker, but its cautious sensitivity and narrative/thematic simplicity turns it into a sad yet nurturing fable of lost innocence and the subconscious processing (and defense mechanisms) of grief. The narrow, poetic chasm separating harsh reality from its storybook view of country life is a tricky one that director Clément can’t quite get right, but its point of view doesn’t favor the recognition of nuance anyway. Adapted by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost from François Boyer’s book, “Jeux Interdits” (the film’s title in its original French translation). Won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, a special citation prior to the competitive category becoming official a few years later.

89/100