By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jean Cocteau | René Clément
Starring: Jean Marais | Josette Day | Marcel André | Michel Auclair | Mila Parély | Nane Germon | Raoul Marco
Original language title: La belle et la bête
Country: france
Year: 1946
Running time: 93
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038348/reference
Michael says: “After seeing ORPHEUS, I had to finally check out BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, the film that first put Jean Cocteau on the map, and his first feature length directorial narrative. Released in 1946, this French romantic fantasy film was the first major adaptation of the fairy tale written in 1757 by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The story revolves around the lovely and generous Belle, who lives with her father, her rather feckless brother, and her two cruel sisters, and a mysterious, solitary beast who lives in a castle surrounded by a garden all suffused with magic When Belle’s father unwittingly stumbles across the Beast’s garden and picks a rose to bring back to Belle, The Beast reveals himself and informs the man that for this theft, he is sentenced to death. Unwilling to accept this, Belle returns to the Beast in her father’s place. The Beast falls in love with Belle, and proposes marriage to her every night, but despite the warmth that gradually grows between them, she does not love him and refuses marriage. After a time, Belle begs the Beast to let her return to see her family for just one week, after which she will return. The Beast permits this because he loves her but tells her that if she does not return, he will die of grief. It’s one of the great fantasy love stories of our time, and so many homages and adaptations have followed.
“As in ORPHEUS four years later, Cocteau includes beautiful practical effects to show the Beasts magic that are still stunning to watch. The costumes, sets, and gorgeous cinematography were intended to evoke the illustrations and engravings of Gustave Doré and, in the farmhouse scenes, the paintings of Jan Vermeer. I was expecting to find the well-known story tiresome, but the freshness of seeing it under Cocteau’s visual splendor made it unique and as if seeing for the first time. Getting her start in 1919, Josette Day played Belle, and only performed in four more films after this one. Cocteau’s regular leading man, Jean Marais does double duty as the Beast, and as Belle’s handsome but rather brutish suitor back home at the farm. 4 1/2 cats“