The cinema of René Clément
The cinema of René Clemente (1913-1996) it largely dealt with two themes: France under the occupation and the world of childhood. His first films were set during World War II, such as The Battle of the Railway (1946), The calm father (1946) or also Aubeyond the gates (1949), without forgetting Is Paris burning? (1966) which he produced much later. For childhood, Beyond the grids AND Gervaise (1956) allowed him to address it with secondary characters. While the last years of the director’s career saw him once again engage in an original way with the world of children and adults.
In The rain passenger (1969), Marlène Jobert plays a woman who is attacked and raped in her home, and plays her in a childish way to delve into the trauma she has suffered. In The hare runs across the fields (1972), during one scene, the gang of delinquents at the center of the story gather around a table and observe one of them playing at stacking cigarettes. Then, during the final shootout, a sort of flashback sends everyone back a period of childhood where still innocent young people played cops and robbers.
Games prohibited (1952) it is René Clément’s work that best combines these two themes dear to the director. For this reason, the unpublished documentary by Dominique Maillet, René Clément, the impossible mourning of childhoodappears as the most relevant bonus of the supplements that accompany the new release of the film a DVD+Blu-ray combo box set. For an hour, different speakers – such as director Jean-Charles Tacchella, assistant director Pierre Lary or even film historians Noël Herpe and Jean Ollé-Laprune – tell the story the journey of René Clément and demonstrate the importance of Games prohibited.
Games prohibitedor childhood far from adult concerns
Those who do not have much knowledge of the director will learn through this documentary how René Clément’s cinema managed to embrace the spirit of the times from the early years of his career. While dedicating his films to the period of the Second World War, the filmmaker did so by maintaining a certain distance from the events, often reducing the spectacular to remain at eye level. His nihilistic worldview was reflected in his depictions of “the defenseless Man, happy to watch the train of history pass by remaining on the platform“.
Games prohibitedaddresses this problem by placing itself more precisely at the level of children. To recall, the film begins with the June 1940 bombings responsible the death of Paulette’s parents. The five-year-old girl, suddenly finding herself alone, wanders through the countryside before meeting Michel, an eleven-year-old boy who decides to take her back to his peasant family. Both will form a strong friendship and escape the horror of the moment thanks to their imagination. Thus, even if the war and its consequences are clear to the viewer, these children imagined by René Clément remain away from the worries of adults.
Behind the film in a new DVD+Blu-ray edition
Himself, who felt he didn’t have a happy childhood, with a mother he thought didn’t love him, and a father who died when he was 20he found himself unintentionally immersed in the world of adults, soon forced to work. The cinema will be his refuge, from 1934, thanks to the meeting with Jacques Tati with whom he started working before making his first short film, Take care of your leftin 1936.
The absence of his father and points of reference in his cinema can be explained in this way, as evidenced by the interventions on the bonus DVD. A supplement accompanied byChildhood love under occupation (31min), focusing on the origins of the film and its shooting, including interventions by Brigitte Fossey (an interview similar to another present in the 2006 DVD edition).
The alternative beginning and ending can also be discovered in the supplements of Games prohibited. But beyond the bonuses, the pleasure of (re)discovering this moving and traumatic work in Blu-ray quality still remains today for those who saw it too young. A memorable film, awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1952 and the Oscar for best foreign film in 1953, and which revealed young people Georges Poujouly and Brigitte Fossey.
Games prohibited is available from November 6th in DVD+Blu-ray combo at the price of €24.99.
Source: Cine Serie
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