Ciné-Club: "Verbotene Spiele" ("Jeux interdits")

The Ciné-Club, the film series on French cinema organized by Cinema Quadrat and Institut Français Mannheim, is showing a classic by René Clément - a heartbreaking anti-war film:

FORBIDDEN GAMES - JEUX INTERDITS

FRA 1952. D: René Clément. D: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Lucien Hubert, Suzanne Coutal. 86 min. frzOmdtU. FSK: 12

1940 in the French province. Five-year-old Paulette loses her parents in a German air raid and is taken in as an orphan by a farming family. Here she quickly makes friends with the youngest son Michel, who is eleven years old. Together they set up a cemetery for animals and she copes with her war experiences in her own way. When it is discovered that the children have stolen crosses from the churchyard for the graves in their cemetery, Paulette is taken away by the gendarmes and sent to an orphanage.
Director René Clément's heartbreaking masterpiece is one of the best anti-war films of all time and was awarded the Golden Lion in Venice and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, among others. Brigitte Fossey, who was only five years old at the time, delivered a brilliant acting performance in the role of little Paulette.

Introduction: Solange Domisse, Institut Français Mannheim