Forbidden Games

Jeux interdits (Forbidden Games), is a 1952 French language motion picture based on the François Boyer novel, Les Jeux Inconnus about which Hollywood film critic Leonard Maltin said: "Jeux interdits is almost unquestionably the most compelling and intensely poignant drama featuring young children ever filmed."

The film recounts the death of five-year-old Paulette's (Brigitte Fossey) parents and of her pet dog while fleeing a Nazi air raid in Paris, France during World War II. In the chaos, the traumatized child meets ten-year-old Michel Dollé (Georges Poujouly) whose peasant family will take her in. She quickly becomes attached to Michael as her big brother and the two attempt to cope with the death and destruction that surrounds them by secretly building a small cemetery where they bury her dog and then start to bury other animals, stealing crosses from the local graveyard.

Childstars Georges Poujouly and Brigitte Fossey in a scene from "Forbidden Games"

Production:

• Director: René Clément
• Producer: Robert Dorfmann
• Original story: François Boyer from the novel
• Screenplay adaption: Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, René Clément
• Cinematography: Robert Juillard
• Music: Narciso Yepes

Running time: 102 minutes

Cast:

• Georges Poujouly - Michel Dollé
• Brigitte Fossey - Paulette
• Amédée - Francis Gouard
• Laurence Badie - Berthe Dollé
• Suzanne Courtal - Madame Dollé
• Lucien Hubert - Dollé
• Jacques Marin - Georges Dollé
• Pierre Merovée - Raymond Dollé
• Louis Saintève - Le prêtre

Awards:

• Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 1952
• Venice Film Festival Golden Lion award for best picture, 1952
• New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Foregin Language Film, 1952
• BAFTA Award for Best Picture, 1953