Forbidden Games presents a delicate balance, contrasting as it does the innocence of children with the grim reality of war. As German planes fly over France, dropping bombs behind them, two children - Michel (Georges Poujouly) and Paulette (Brigitte Fossey) – come face-to-face with death for the first time and in their efforts to understand it, make a game that centres around a makeshift cemetery. It’s a macabre game to be sure, but their lack of understanding of its real meaning ensures that the game never seems sinister, and director Rene Clement’s ability to create this small pool of innocence and surround it with the reality of war and death is what makes the film so unforgettable.

The film begins with residents of Paris fleeing into the countryside. Paulette, her parents, and their dog are amongst them and when the dog flees at the sound of planes, Paulette follows and is chased after by her parents. Both parents are killed and the dog is fatally wounded, twitching away its last moments of life in Paulette’s arms. She doesn’t realize that the dog is dead, nor does she comprehend that her parents are now lost to her forever. Throughout the film she’ll express a degree of awareness about what has happened to her parents, repeating that they’re dead whenever asked what has become of them, but at the same time she doesn’t fully comprehend what it means for them to be dead.

When a passing refugee tosses the dog off the bridge, Paulette follows its course to “rescue” him and finds herself on the Dolle farm where she’s discovered by Michel. Michel, happy to finally have a playmate, brings her home, convinces his parents to let her stay, and gives her his blanket, solidifying their bond with each act. That night the family discusses the situation on the road, where many people besides Paulette’s parents were killed. So many, in fact, that there aren’t enough coffins and some bodies will simply be pushed together into a hole. Paulette is asleep during this conversation but the film suggests that she’s heard it as the next morning she steals a hoe, finds the dead dog again, and becomes determined to bury him. She worries, however, about the dog being alone so Michel finds a mole to bury alongside him, thus beginning their project.

Much more is suggested in this film than stated out right. Because of her unawareness of the meaning of crosses, crucifixes, and Catholic prayers, it can be supposed that Paulette may be Jewish. Her ability to absorb all that Michel teaches her about Catholicism will no doubt help her later during the Vichy years. It can also be imagined that she transfers her feelings about the deaths of her parents over to her dog because it’s far easier to deal with the death of a pet than that of a parent. Immediately after her parents are killed, Paulette compares the warmth of her own cheek to the coldness of her mother’s, an act she will repeat later with the dog. Her determination to bury the dog comes only after the conversation mentioned above and her obsession with the idea that he not be alone can be read both as a hope that her parents are still together and as a fear that she herself will be alone. For the moment she has Michel and his family but, vaguely, she is also aware that she doesn’t belong.

As Michel and Paulette find more and more things to bury – from chicks to earth worms – they decide that it’s necessary to make the cemetery complete with real crosses. To this end, Michel sets about stealing them from hearses and churches and an actual cemetery, which adds fuel to the fire of his family’s longstanding feud with their neighbors. Michel’s actions, particularly stealing crosses from the cemetery, are wrong but it’s the adults in this situation who end up behaving in the most childish fashion.

The film is centered on Michel and Paulette and carried by Poujouly and Fossey, but it is not a children’s movie. It is a film for adults about how children learn about the world and how they cope with their new knowledge. Stories like this one can be difficult to pull off because they depend on child actors having the ability to display a great deal of nuance and suggest the hidden depths of their characters. Poujouly and Fossey - who made the film at the ages of 11 and 5, respectively - render surprisingly effective and deep performances, which is surely a credit to Clement. A lot of subtlety goes into the way that Michel and Paulette relate to the world around them and Clement evokes very natural performances from the two young actors. Fossey, in particular, has a wonderfully expressive face that nearly renders dialogue unnecessary.

Forbidden Games’ greatest strength, aside from the wonderful performances by the two young actors, is its ability to juxtapose the game with everything that happens around it. In the film’s most memorable scene, Michel and Paulette sneak out to the cemetery at night to steal crosses, filling a wheelbarrow. On their way back to the farm, some German planes pass overhead, terrifying them and they begin to run, dropping crosses along the way. The game isn’t simply something to pass the time for them; it’s a distraction from all the things they aren’t equipped to understand, such as how close they are to their own deaths. Offhand you might think that innocence such as that displayed by Michel and Paulette cannot possibly exist in such a volatile place and time. However, as Forbidden Games demonstrates, innocence such as theirs is necessary in such a place at such a time.

Watch a video clip for the movie here: