''Forbidden Games'' () is a 1952 French

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films ''The Battle of the Rails'' (1946), ''Forbidden Games'' (1952), ''Gervaise (film), Gervaise'' (1956), ''Purple No ...

and based on François Boyer's novel ''Les Jeux Interdits''. While not initially successful in France, the film was a hit elsewhere. It won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () 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 regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

, 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 * Special police forces M ...

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

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 BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

Plot

It is June 1940, during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

. 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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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 A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or 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" (). In France and som ...

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 organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

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 – 28 October 2000) was a French actor who gained international acclaim as a child for his performance in the award-winning film ''Forbidden Games''. In the 1950s, he appeared in a number of other high-profile f ...

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, '' Forbidden Games''.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 c ...

as Francis Gouard *

Laurence Badie Laurence Badie (15 June 1928 – 11 January 2024) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 100 films since 1952. Badie died on 11 January 2024, at the age of 95. Badie was also a prolific voice actress, having voiced Velma Dinkley in the ...

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 ('' Ch ...

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 took place from 23 April to 10 May 1952. French author Maurice Genevoix served as jury president for the main competition. The Grand Prize of the Festival was awarded, as the highest prize, to ''Othello'' by Orson 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 The 13th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 20 August to 12 September 1952. Italian film critic Mario Gromo, was the jury president for the main competition. The Golden Lion of Saint Mark was awarded to ''Forbidden Games'' ...

; 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 peasan ...

ry of France"; in France, 4,910,835 theater tickets were sold, making it 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 some ...

called it a film with "the irony of a '' Grand Illusion'', the authenticity of a ''

Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

'' 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, Los Angeles, Hollywood, and the Majestic Theatre (Columbus Circle), NBC International Theatre in New York City, to honor the films of 1952 in film, 1 ...

, ''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, 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 with Thelma Ritter hosting from the NBC Century Theatre in New York City. ''On the Waterfront'' ...

, François Boyer 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, film producer, novelist and playwright. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee, winning Best Story for ''Broken Lance'' (1954). During the 1950s and 1960s, Yorda ...

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 film ...

''. Decades after its release,

David Ehrenstein David Ehrenstein (February 18, 1947 – March 12, 2025) was an American critic who focused primarily on gay issues in cinema. Life and career Ehrenstein was born in New York City on February 18, 1947. His father was Jewish with Polish ancestors, ...

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." ''Forbidden Games'' has an approval rating of 100% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 8.8/10.

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

added the film to his ''

Great Movies ''The Great Movies'' is the name of several publications, both online and in print, from Roger Ebert, an American film critic and columnist for ''The Chicago Sun-Times''. The object was, as Ebert put it, to "make a tour of the landmarks of the f ...

'' 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 stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

arrangement of the

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

Romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

," performed by

Narciso Yepes Narciso Yepes (14 November 19273 May 1997) was a Spanish classical guitar, guitarist. He is considered one of the finest virtuoso classical guitarists of the twentieth century. Biography Yepes was born into a family of humble origin in Lorca, ...

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". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

(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, American film and television studio, now a subsidiary of Amazon MGM Studios *MGM/UA Home Entertainment MGM Home Entertai ...

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

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and Turner Entertainment Co.

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 French-language drama films Golden Lion winners 1950s French films French-language war drama films