Forbidden Games
(1952)
★ 7.8 IMDb · 363 votes
Year: 1952
Runtime: 87 мин
Country: France
Director: René Clément
Cast: Brigitte Fossey, Georges Poujouly, Philippe de Chérisey, Laurence Badie, Suzanne Courtal, Lucien Hubert, Madeleine Barbulée, Жак Марен, Pierre Merovée, Denise Péronne
Plot
Orphaned after a Nazi air raid, Paulette, a young Parisian girl, runs into Michel, an older peasant boy, and the two quickly become close. Together, they try to make sense of the chaotic and crumbling world around them, attempting to cope with death as they create a burial ground for Paulette's deceased pet dog. Eventually, however, Paulette's stay with Michel's family is threatened by the harsh realities of wartime.
A girl of perhaps five or six is orphaned in an air raid while fleeing a French city with her parents early in World War II. She is befriended by a pre-adolescent peasant boy after she wandered away from the other refugees, and is taken in for a few weeks by his family. The children become fast friends, and the film follows their attempt to assimilate the deaths they both face, and the religious rituals surrounding those deaths, through the construction of a cemetery for all sorts of animals. Child-like and adult activity are frequently at cross-purposes, however.