To be honest, I was expecting to be disappointed; it's a film about innocent children in World War II. Blessedly, I was wrong; they're not "innocent" so much as "naive", and the games they play are cute and disturbing at once. Clement doesn't try to score cheap points from the child actors and it feels surprisingly natural.

"It's difficult to fault a film that scrutinizes the veracity of childhood with such clarity." - Ed Gonzalez

After a young girl's parents are killed, she goes through an inconsistency of emotions, goes to a local farm, and has the youngest boy on the farm teach her incorrectly about death. Nobody in this film really cares about people dying, as long as they get to have crosses above their graves. Everyone says this film is heart-breaking; I just find it ball-breaking. At least this all ends on a happy (yet befuddled) note.

The bookending scenes are brilliant, but really sad, and the whole film is just a wrenching experience; the lengths Michel goes to help Paulette cope are both inspiring and sickening.

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Touching and tragic, without bathos. The two children have a remarkable relationship because both are innocents but Michel is a tiny bit less innocent so he teaches Paulette (and of course he teaches it all wrong-- but his answers makes more sense than the adult version of the world).

Notable for Clement's excellent use of child actors and striking subject matter for the time, but I don't feel it's aged perfectly. I do appreciate the tough open and close, especially that last crowd shot of the girl latching on to a stranger, thinking of her mother.

The two child actors have súch chemistry together that it turns a regular drama into a beautifully tragic tale about loss and innocence. So bittersweet that it hurts. And that ending, gah!

A tragic story about children who suffer in war time and yet still preserve their innocence, even when confronting the mystery of death. Watching this film is not a grim experience, however, because--like life--there is much sweetness and humor here as well. Brigitte Fossey gives what is perhaps the greatest performance of any child actor--certainly superior to any other performance by a child less than six years of age.

A pretty little thing.

Kids outplaying adults - on every level.

#422

Very nice. Great child acting. There's a lot of layers to it. I especially like what it has to say about childhood. Ending is awesome.

savas, mezarlik, öksüz, yetim, arkadaslik (güzel bir filmdi)

The opening was quite shocking, but as the movie progressed it got warmer (but also sad at times). Was this even a movie instead of a documentary? I mean, it looked so real.

The ending makes me wanna cry every time... And I do.

Pretty ballsy examination of how differently -- and maybe more honestly -- children deal with and treat life and death than adults.

While the opening scene and the two final scenes are heartbreaking and moving the rest of the story was a little weak.The two young leads with there great performances and chemistry together is one of the great child pairings I've seen.

# 387

An incredible heartbreaking and simultaneously heartwarming film. The film revolves primarily around two children in wartime France, trying in their own way to deal with death and the world around them. I don't think I've ever seen better child actors and they carry the film superbly. Clément's direction is also great, combining a touching story with impressive yet subdued visuals and very nice and appropriate score.

Wow! Stunning and heartbreaking, with two phenomenal child performances. Perfection.

Much more realistic portrayal of kids than in most Hollywood movies but somehow this doesn't quite engage

I don't often like movies with children at the center, but these two actors were so natural that it really, really worked. Besides being an all-around good, engaging film, it says a lot about war, religion and death. To the children, these becomes part of their world of games, but it's far more sincere than the way the adults them. Quite original.

Clément admittedly came up with a theme that is guaranteed to pull at heartstrings: A bittersweet war movie about children, a concept repeated in dramas to this day, most of them lesser but some better than this. Forbidden Games is a consistently good movie, anyway, and succeeds in avoiding overt sentimentalism most of the time.

Very intriguing. And not what you might expect from the title--the games actually involve death.

A true classic, with probably the best child performances you will ever see. Seek it out.

An insightful consideration of mortality though not a particularly heavy undertaking, Forbidden Games is a film that is by turns heartbreaking and delightful. It presents the macabre in an innocent and playful fashion, and through the naive perspective of children Clement finds poignancy. They confront death in a manner far more touching than the hollow treatment the adults give it. Don't be discouraged by the child performances, as these are among the sweetest and least sentimental I've seen.

If nothing else, some of the best damn child performances ever on screen.

If all the "quality" french films from the 40's-50's were like this one, then Truffaut, Godard et al would really have nothing to revolt against. This is a superbly written, engaging, unique look into the life of children under war. Though its premise sounds melodramtic at the very least, it's infused with enough comic and realist touches to avoid sentimental pitfalls. The direction may be indistinguished, but the striking visuals and the light touch bring out the best of the masterful script.

A fine war film, both heartwarming and shocking, I mean really, have you ever seen anything as shocking as the first 10 minutes of this film ? Directors take a risk when applying such a technique, but it's handled superbly, and one can't quite turn away from the screen. The child actors were also great, playing off each other so naturally, as if they've been doing it for years. Although it's heartbreakingly sad at times, it's worth your while. Lovely music aswell and what an ending !!!

A dramatic context, with a cynnically funny story.

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