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Forbidden Games
(Jeux interdits)

Screening on Film
Directed by René Clément.
With Brigitte Fossey, Georges Poujoly, Amédée.
France, 1952, 16mm, black & white, 102 min.
French with English subtitles.

C is for Children of War

After witnessing the death of her parents and beloved dog during an air attack as her family flees the Nazi invasion of France, a young girl is taken in by a peasant family. She develops a strong kinship with the family’s youngest son, who joins her in constructing a cemetery to memorialize her pet and other animals—a crude memorial to the victims of war. In this poignant tale of loss and remembrance, Clément captures the hardships of war through the perspective of his compelling child actors. Controversial in its own time, the film was excluded from the Cannes festival but nevertheless found broad critical acclaim.

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Cinema A–Z: Treasures from the Harvard Film Archive