Prohibited games : childhood in the face of war
There are films that mark a childhood. Works probably seen too young, and whose trauma caused is still felt years later. Sometimes a single sequence is enough, like the one in which Artax succumbs to melancholy The Neverending Story (1984). When other feature films are overall heartbreaking. In this genre, it is difficult to make more attempts at Prohibited games (1952)a great film about childhood and the Second World War, directed by René Clément.
Inside, we discover a very young Brigitte Fossey (5 years old at the time of filming) as Paulette, whose parents have just died after being bombed by a German plane. Lost in the countryside, Paulette meets Michel (Georges Poujouly), a ten-year-old, who takes her to his parents’ farm. The latter agree to collect it mainly to ensure that their neighbors do not do it for them and to gain a little glory.
Prohibited games then follow these two reckless children who help each other as best they can. Above all, it is Michel who does everything to help the young girl overcome the tragedy she has experienced and that she cannot fully understand. He will thus agree to steal some crosses from her to create a cemetery for animals, a surprising source of comfort for Paulette, but he will pay the price.
Brigitte Fossey, the first traumatized
René Clément’s strength is to show the horror of war through the prism of childhood. In the midst of this terrible time, children find refuge in their imagination. But for the viewer, the tragedy remains. If Paulette’s situation is enough to shock a young audience, the ending remains one of the saddest sequences of cinema history. We see Paulette delivered to an orphanage, waiting alone. Hearing someone say Michel’s name, she suddenly begins to call her friend, for a final wave of emotion.
This emotion that Brigitte Fossey transmits at this moment is impressive, because it screams the truth. However, it was caused by the manipulation of René Clément, quite traumatic for the actress. For her, however, the real shock came later, during the screening of the film at the Cannes Film Festival. The child then discovered the attacks on the big screen for the first time. A moment all the more difficult for her, since in the film her father and mother play Paulette’s parents, who die on a bridge.
Worldwide success and unforgettable music
This trauma of Brigitte Fossey, who had to reshoot scenes several months after filming and when she was a little too grown up, was therefore shared with many viewers. Indeed, Forbidden Games has left its mark on generations and was a worldwide success at the time of its release. A phenomenon so important that Brigitte Fossey was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in February 1953. Awarded the Independent Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1952, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1952 and the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1953, the feature film not only marked its era. It remained a reference and”an emblematic film of French cinema“, as written byINA in an article dedicated to prohibited games.
Finally, Prohibited games it wouldn’t be so ingrained in the memory of viewers if it weren’t for it this music so easily identifiable. A guitar melody originally imagined for the film Bloody Arenas (1941) by Rouben Mamoulian under the title Anonymous noveland interpreted in Prohibited games by Narciso Yepes.
Source: Cine Serie
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