Forbidden
Games (1951) (aka "The Secret Game,"
"Jeux Interdits")
Odd yet subdued, perverse yet sweet, joyous yet sorrowful,
Rene Clement's "Forbidden Games" is a complex film that
deals with a complex subject: Death. And because the
film was made in 1952 yet set in 1940, during the height
of WWII, one might say it is a statement about both
love and loss during the war as well as our remembrances
of our loves and losses during wartime. One might also
say that it is about the way children look at loss and
form bonds of love to protect themselves from it's sorrow.
The film's rich story is set around a single couple:
Paulette, who is 5, and her new- found friend Michel,
who is 10.
The film opens in seemingly random yet realistic chaos.
Clement gives us a striking and unsettling depiction
of Europeans on the run during German bombing raids.
As soon as this is established, Clement goes one step
further, and shows us, in vivid and graphic detail,
the execution of a mother and father in front of their
young daughter. But Clement bring us calmness and subtly
in a scene that might be filled with histrionics. The
sequence is bold yet simple, striking yet quiet.
This is also where one of the most unusual scenes
in the film takes place as young Paulette (played by
6 year old Brigette Fossey) holds her dying puppy in
her arms. The dog shakes and trembles as if it is, indeed,
dying (or at the very least drugged). Soon, the dog
is called dead by a mean peasant woman and unceremoniously
thrown off a bridge into a babbling creek. But Paulette
almost immediately fishes the corpse out of the water
and carries it around a bit more. Later it is buried.
In these scenes, it does indeed look like a real, dead
dog. How far did Clement go to get this realism? Was
a puppy actually killed for the sake of verisimilitude
here?
Much of this troubling thought bubbles over into the
next segment of the film in which Paulette is taken
in by a rather clumsy French peasant family, who have
a young son named Michel. Before much action can ensue,
before Paulette even enters the house, the older brother
in this clan is injured in a farming accident. And soon,
again, in the film, death will rear it's thematic head.
The "Forbidden Games" of the title, lurid as it is,
however, comes when Paulette, who has apparently had
no religious training (being a "Parisenne"), and Michel,
who "knows his cataclysm well," begin to build a complex
cemetery in an abandoned mill. This act begins when
Michel offers to bury Paulette's dog. Soon, unbeknownst
to her, he is killing small animals, earthworms and
chicks, to bury as companions for her pup. The two also
steal crosses from a church, from another cemetery and
from Michel's brother's hearse to use in their monument.
Their delight in this project is smartly shown in one
scene where Michel, upon finishing the piece, admires
the "fruit of his labors" while joyously biting into
an apple. Happiness shines on his face. It is an image
not lost on the viewer.
Eventually, the duo's secret must be exposed and Paulette,
of course, is removed from her happy setting. In a sad
and beautiful ending, Michel gives a remembrance of
her to a wise old owl who has overlooked his work in
the mill and tells the bird, "Keep it for a hundred
years." He has previously explained to Paulette that
owls live to be 100. It is a touching and poetic moment.
Meanwhile, Paulette is ushered off to a Red Cross installation
and becomes lost in a shuffle of thousands of displaced
refugees. Having lost two families in a rather short
period of time, she rushes into a crowd shouting "mother"
to a matriarchal looking woman as the camera pulls out.
Visually, she is swallowed by the throng - and lost
to us (as well as her dear Michel) forever.
"Forbidden Games" is very complex and is often interpreted
as an anti-war statement but I think it is much more
than simply that. At times black comedy and at times
poetic beauty, the film says much about how we bury
and remember our dead, both in wartime and in peace.
It is also about how our desire to build remembrances
and memorials to those we have lost often says more
about ourselves than it does about the departed.
But the film may also be rightly interpreted as an
anti- war allegory or metaphor. The peasant family with
whom Paulette lives for a short period have an ongoing
feud with their neighbors that often leads to violence.
Surely Clement meant something by that. Also note that
the film begins with a group of refugees being killed
by Nazi planes and ends with a young girl disappearing
into a group of displaced persons. This says something
about war as well.
Beautifully filmed in black and white, the film is
accompanied by a simple soundtrack, a single guitar
playing Renaissance tunes. Unlike many of the films
of this period, there are no musical "cues" to the action
or to the plot of the piece. Rather a mood is set with
sombre resonance that often touches us. This was unusual
for a film in this time period as was the superb acting
in this film on the part of the children. While those
around them seem bombastic and petty, both Fossey and
Georges Poujouly (as Michel) are calm and bright. They
are the rays of sunshine in the film.
But, inevitably, one must come back to attempt to
interpreting what Clement is saying here. The children's
intentions for building a striking memorial to life
is quite simple. Paulette initially wants to do what
is right for her puppy and then gets caught up in the
"beauty" of the simple cross, a religious symbol. Michel,
meanwhile, only seeks to please his companion. Yet he
is also compelled by the beauty of a religious symbol:
The prayer. A priest is also a minor character here.
What kind of religious statement is Clement making?
The religion in the film is, eventually, hollow. It
holds no great meaning. It is only aestheticly and aurally
pleasing to our protagonists in the end. Is this the
sum total of religion's worth in Clement's view? Their
intentions for constructing a memorial is no more religious,
no more important or profound than the adults intentions
in burying their dead son here. They eventually use
it to fuel their feud with the neighbors.
"Forbidden Games" will make you think. In the end,
however, you still may be unsure of Clement's intentions.
However, like the children in his film, Clement constructs
a beautiful and striking piece of art that one cannot
help but enjoy viewing.
Note:
Music by Narcisco Yepes. Photographed by Robert Julliard.
Based on the novel by Francois Boyer.
It took Clement 5 years to get funding for the film.
Poujouly was said to have been found at a camp for
deprived youth.
Fossey returned to films as an adult and appeared
in "The Man who Loved Women" among other films.
The film is often listed as being from 1951 and this
may indeed be the date it was released in France. One
must also remember the climate in America in 1952 when
all things French were becoming appreciated in the states.
Films like this one were highly acclaimed at that time,
and, in this case, rightly so.
Oscar for Best Foreign Film 1952. Best Film at Venice
Film Festival 1952.
Review written in 1996
More
of Lodger's reviews indexed alphabetically! Just click
your favorite letter to go there.
a
b c
d e
f g
h i
j k
l m
n o
p q
r s
t u
v w
x y
z
HOME
|
