Forbidden Games Film Still

Forbidden Games

René Clément

France

1952

86 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

French

318

Synopsis

A timeless evocation of childhood innocence corrupted, René Clément’s Forbidden Games tells the story of a young girl orphaned by war and the farm boy she joins in a fantastical world of macabre play. At once mythical and heartbreakingly real, this unique film features astonishing performances by its child stars and was honored with a special foreign language film Academy Award in 1952.

Cast

PauletteBrigitte Fossey
Michel DolléGeorges Poujouly
Père DolléLucien Hubert
Mère DolléSuzanne Courtal
Georges DolléJacques Marin
Berthe DolléLaurence Badie
Père GouardAndré Wasley
Francis GouardAmédée

Credits

DirectorRené Clément
ScreenplayJean Aurenche, Pierre Bost and François Boyer
DialogueRené Clément, Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost
ProducerRobert Dorfmann
CinematographyRobert Juillard
EditingRoger Dwyre
From the novel byFrançois Boyer
Art directorPaul Bertrand
MusicNarcisco Yepes
SoundJacques Lébreton

Disc Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Collection of new and archival interviews with director René Clément and actress Brigitte Fossey
  • Alternate opening and ending to the film
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
  • New and improved subtitle translation
  • A new essay by film scholar Peter Matthews

From the Current

Forbidden Games: Death and the Maiden

by Peter Matthews Dec 5, 2005

Cinema is a photographic trace of life. For that reason, it’s also a perpetual witness to mortality. Georges Poujouly, the child actor who stars, with Brigitte Fossey, in René Clément’s 1952 masterpiece Forbidden Games, died in 2000, at the age of sixty. But as Michel, the rude . . .

Forbidden Games

by David Ehrenstein Apr 11, 1988

Over the years countless films have been made about war, its horrors and its devastations. Few, however, have been as moving and heartfelt as René Clément’s Forbidden Games. The Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film in 1952, this deeply touching French drama has stirred . . .

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