Forbidden Games tackles and interesting and challenging premise: children in a war encountering death. The film manages to create some interesting moments, such as when little Paulette's parents are killed or when Michel's father fights with the neighbor after destroying the neighbor's family grave markers. It also has some interesting things to say, especially about the relationship that the country people have with religion and the symbols present that they don't understand. The problem is that as a whole, the storytelling falls short.
First, the tonal shifts don't even work out. We go from dead parents and a dead dog, to Paulette burying and mourning the dog (but not her parents) to Michel losing his brother, to apparent comedic moments between the neighbor families. But the tonal changes aren't smooth and they aren't signaled, so when you see a joke on screen shortly after all of the more somber moments, I was left thinking "I guess that's supposed to be funny". On top of that, the film mostly sidesteps issues of death. None of the characters seem to greatly mourn any of the dead people, especially Michel when his brother dies. Also, everyone seems to miss the moment when Michel kills a chick in order to give it to Paulette. The audience sees Michel take the live chick and the next time it's shown he's handing it to Paulette and promising that he didn't kill it while she comments that it's body is still warm. With this content, the later scenes with the populated graveyard, make you wonder how many Michel has murdered in order to feed Paulette's game of crosses. On the other hand, that tension provides the film's greatest virtue, as the characters barely seem to register all of the death around them and instead raise hell over missing pieces of wood.
But overall, despite it's powerful symbolism, the crosses play no part in the overarching plot regarding what happens to Paulette. Neither does the storyline of the bickering neighbors or the loose ends of the neighbor's children in a secret romance. Instead, Paulette is whisked away to an orphanage by deux ex machina in uniform in order to achieve an end to the story, although with an ending so abrupt that it felt like it came from a Monty Python film. A lot more could have been achieved with some foreshadowing to create a sense of stakes. You also have to look pretty hard to see an arc for any of the characters, Michel's perhaps being the most obvious with his encounter with Paulette unveiling a willingness to steal and kill for entertainment.
First, the tonal shifts don't even work out. We go from dead parents and a dead dog, to Paulette burying and mourning the dog (but not her parents) to Michel losing his brother, to apparent comedic moments between the neighbor families. But the tonal changes aren't smooth and they aren't signaled, so when you see a joke on screen shortly after all of the more somber moments, I was left thinking "I guess that's supposed to be funny". On top of that, the film mostly sidesteps issues of death. None of the characters seem to greatly mourn any of the dead people, especially Michel when his brother dies. Also, everyone seems to miss the moment when Michel kills a chick in order to give it to Paulette. The audience sees Michel take the live chick and the next time it's shown he's handing it to Paulette and promising that he didn't kill it while she comments that it's body is still warm. With this content, the later scenes with the populated graveyard, make you wonder how many Michel has murdered in order to feed Paulette's game of crosses. On the other hand, that tension provides the film's greatest virtue, as the characters barely seem to register all of the death around them and instead raise hell over missing pieces of wood.
But overall, despite it's powerful symbolism, the crosses play no part in the overarching plot regarding what happens to Paulette. Neither does the storyline of the bickering neighbors or the loose ends of the neighbor's children in a secret romance. Instead, Paulette is whisked away to an orphanage by deux ex machina in uniform in order to achieve an end to the story, although with an ending so abrupt that it felt like it came from a Monty Python film. A lot more could have been achieved with some foreshadowing to create a sense of stakes. You also have to look pretty hard to see an arc for any of the characters, Michel's perhaps being the most obvious with his encounter with Paulette unveiling a willingness to steal and kill for entertainment.