Forbidden Games

[patsyi]

I started to watch this film but had to turn it off and walk away from it. The problem was the treatment of a dog in one of the early scenes. It was too disturbing to realize that that dog may have been killed in order to shoot the scene. I can't get the image out of my head. Does anyone know anything about this that might shed some light on this? It looked like it was going to be a very good film if it wasn't for that.

[slaytonf]

If you mean the scene on the bridge where Pauline's parents are killed, yes, that was unsettling. The only thing I can think of is that the dog was given some sort of sedative to put it into a comatose state. Later in the movie, a stuffed model must have been used after it died. They couldn't have used a real carcase. If not from humane considerations, then at least from practical ones.

[josephherndz]

Many times I have seen this film and that scene makes me cringe as well, but thankfully regulations about animal handling has changed for the better.

 

It makes me wonder how many posters get upset about the treatment of horses in "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" *František Vláčil* included some gruesome images in "The Valley Of The Bees"

and *Andrei Tarkovsky* had his share of gruesome animal cruelty in "Andrei Rublev"

 

I am an animal lover and admit, these are just a few of my all-time favourite movies, and have come to the understanding that what is appalling now was fairly common fare in the history of Cinema.

 

To the original poster, give the film another chance, it is worth sitting in its entirety.

[willbefree25]

Hey, they used to use trip wires and throw horses off cliffs.

 

What's one lousy dog?

 

The AHA has their hands full today, and at that isn't able to curtail all the animal cruelty. Imagine way back when women and minorities were dispensable, a dog must have been like a roach to the big brave Jack and Darryl and David and Louie et al.

 

Glad I didn't watch.

[JefCostello]

I love this movie and thought this thread would be about the mertis of the film.

 

Instead, it's about a dog. Only in America.

 

 

And I doubt the dog was actually killed to make this movie. That entire scene is one of the most powerful and saddest scenes I've ever seen in a movie. Apparently, it ruined the whole movie for the original poster. Wow.

[FredCDobbs]

>I started to watch this film but had to turn it off and walk away from it.

 

Yes, me too. No fun watching a movie about a kid's dead parents, the kid's dead dog thrown into a river, and other dead animals. No thanks.

[willbefree25]

They don't care about dead dogs outside of America?

 

Really? How sad.

 

You would love What Just Happened? - it ends with a dog being shot in the head. The AHA assures me the dog wasn't really killed, unlike the horses in Luck.

[willbefree25]

This should give you a chuckle, and serve as proof that they did (and do) kill horses and kittens and chickens et cetera don't they:

 

http://www.avclub.com/articles/yes-animals-were-harmed-21-films-and-tv-shows-that,72051/

 

Enjoy.

[AndyM108]

I love this movie and thought this thread would be about the mertis of the film.

 

Instead, it's about a dog. Only in America.

 

Indeed. Forbidden Games is one of the more powerful war films ever made, and universally acknowledged as such. It's sad that people can be so upset about the possible fate of a dog that they refuse to watch the rest of the movie, while rather ironically not even mentioning the fact that the child's parents were also both killed and lying dead beside her.

 

Oh, well, I guess there's always the neverending supply of Doris Day and beach party movies to calm their jangled nerves. I wonder what the reaction here would be to Katyn or Come and See .

[willbefree25]

Nope, don't watch Doris Day movies or any of that ilk. I prefer not to vomit when I watch movies.

 

I also don't like my films to show cruelty to animals, women or children.

 

It's sad that there are so many people who don't mind any of the above.

[Hibi]

LOL. Well, I watched it for the first time and liked it. Wasnt prepared for that ending. I never really knew what the film was about . Because of the title I thought it was some naughty French adult scenario......

 

Edited by: Hibi on Apr 16, 2012 10:58 AM

[Hibi]

Ironic you vomit over Doris Day when she's devoted 3 or 4 decades of her life trying to help animals.........

[Sepiatone]

 

I too, am an animal lover. But I still think any scene in any movie that has PEOPLE being needlessly slaughtered is far more disturbing than the portrayal of a DOG getting iced. I mean, it's only a movie. I've no doubt in the early days of movie making, many animals weren't given the consideration they get these days. That's sad in itself. But many people weren't given much consideration either.

 

 

Sepiatone

 

 

[AndyM108]

Well, obviously I'd prefer that any depictions of cruelty to animals (including the human variety) on screen were achieved by special effects rather than by actual sacrifice. But as for the depiction itself, my view is dependent on whether or not it's necessary to convey the full emotional force of the scene. It's hard to imagine anything that would be more devastating to a child than to have both her parents and her beloved pet killed within the space of few seconds, but incidents like that happen in war.

 

OTOH what I refuse to watch is the wholesale depiction of killing that's augmented by cheesy gimmicks such as the slow motion shots**, fast-forward freeze frames, or background music that all but commands you what to think. I find that European war movies are far better than ours in this respect, perhaps because they've experienced so much more war on their native lands that they don't feel the need for so much gratuitous embellishment. If I ruled the world every single violent scene would be stripped of any and all such gimmickry. The sound of weapons firing or people screaming in agony doesn't need to be accompanied by anything.

 

**I'll curse Bonnie and Clyde to my dying day for introducing this lamest of all cinematic cliches. After about 30 seconds of that climactic scene I wanted to scream *"JUST BLEEPING DIE AND GET IT OVER WITH!"*

[FredCDobbs]

You won't see that stuff in Code films. That's one reason why I watch mainly Code films. This type of stuff began to irritate me by the mid-'60s. That and cursing and peeing in front of the camera.

[AndyM108]

You won't see that stuff in Code films. That's one reason why I watch mainly Code films. This type of stuff began to irritate me by the mid-'60s. That and cursing and peeing in front of the camera.

 

But you also won't see it in many pre-codes, either, most of which made limited use of soundtrack music once you got past the opening credits.

 

WRT cursing, I don't mind it if it's an accurate portrayal of the way the characters being depicted are likely to talk in real life, as in Goodfellas or the opening New York scene in Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth , which is a comic classic in large part due to Rosie Perez's inspired blue streak. But I can take it or leave it, and the absence of cursing during the code era isn't much of a concern to me, either.

[Bilgewasser]

 

Forbidden Games is a wonderfully poignant film, a film that is

mostly about the cruelty of war, thus the reality of death hits

early. After those first shocking scenes, there's very little blood

shed. But there's much more to it than that, and if people turn

it off early, they're missing a fine movie with many layers. Amid

all the sadness, there is also the comedic take on village life and

the story of the girl's family dynamics, and the tale of two children

constructing their own world away from that of the adults.

 

 

Back in the day there was less concern about animal welfare, so

perhaps the dog really was killed, I'm not sure. Anyhow that is the

animal that starts the children's animal cemetery that acts as their

own special place mirroring the horror of war. I doubt the scorpion

at the beginning of Clouzot's The Wages of Fear survived either.

 

 

[FredCDobbs]

>But you also won't see it in many pre-codes, either,

 

Pre-code films were abiding by an earlier code regarding violence. The Code began in the 1920s. It was modified in 1934 to tone down all the sex stuff that had become rampant.

[fredbaetz]

I agree 100% with your assessment of the film. This is a very powerful film and deserved all the awards it received including the Academy Award,

I also cringed with the scenes of the dog. I hope they didn't harm the poor thing, but that was not a stuffed animal she was carrying around. You can tell the difference between a real and stuffed dog.It also looked like rigor mortis had set in. Remember this was only 7 years after the war and this was France not Hollywood, there was no long waits between takes .

 

Criterion had released the film with an alternate opening and closing. Has anyone seen it?

[AndyM108]

Criterion had released the film with an alternate opening and closing. Has anyone seen it?

 

By coincidence, Forbidden Games came up in my Netflix queue only a week before its TCM screening. Since the Netflix disk got stuck in the middle, I was grateful for a chance at a do-over, and my DVD recorder was even more thankful. It's one of those rare movies that justify the existence of the film industry.

 

The alternate scenes showed the boy reading a book to the girl in the beginning (the same book that was in the opening credits in the one we all saw), and in the end when the girl cries at the sad ending, the boy assures her that they'll be reunited and live happily ever after. No word about the fate of the girl's dog, though.

[Hibi]

I noticed in some scenes the dog was trembling. It may have been given an injection of some sort. I wasnt sure if it was actually dead in the later scenes but it looked like it could've been. Didnt look like a fake dog. Surprised no comments about the child actors. I thought both were great..........

[slaytonf]

I agree. One of the great child acting performances, on both parts.

 

Just idly wondering, do you think it is likely the little girl (Brigette Fossey) could be convinced to carry around a real dead puppy?

[FredCDobbs]

>Just idly wondering, do you think it is likely the little girl (Brigette Fossey) could be convinced to carry around a real dead puppy?

 

Yes, with the old story, "He's just sleeping."

[musikone]

Hibi wrote:

 

I noticed in some scenes the dog was trembling. It may have been given an injection of some sort. I wasnt sure if it was actually dead in the later scenes but it looked like it could've been. Didnt look like a fake dog. Surprised no comments about the child actors. I thought both were great..........

 

The two children were unquestionably the finest actors in this movie.

 

In my opinion, the 11-year-old boy (played by Georges Poujouly, who looked more like 12 or 13 to me) was the star of the movie and the 6-year-old girl (played by Brigitte Fossey) was not far behind him.

 

This is the greatest movie that I have seen in a very long time.

 

 

musikone

[Bilgewasser]

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, a very affecting movie. I didn't catch it when it was on

TCM a few nights ago, but have seen it a number of times

over the years. It seems to me that the dog is dead, but

perhaps not. I also remember the wise old owl who just sits

there in his perch in the barn, unconcerned with what is going

on in the outside world. Amid all the more serious themes, I

still like the humor of the day to day doings of the Dollés.

 

I didn't realize there was an alternative beginning and ending.

One can almost understand changing the ending, because

however true it is to the picture, it is so terribly sad.