Space Oddities: La Belle et la Bêt Movie Review

Fig. 1 La Belle et la Bête (1946)

Jean Cocteau's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (originally released in France as La Belle et la Bte) stars Josette Day as Beauty and Jean Marais as the Beast. When a merchant (Marcel Andr C) is told that he must die for picking a rose from the Beast's garden, his courageous daughter day offer to go back to the Beast in her father's place. The Beast falls in love with her and proposes to marriage on a nightly basis and she refuses having a pledged on her troth a handsome prince also played by Marais. However she is drawn to the repellent but strangely  fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a the key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief.

  

Figure 2

La Belle et la Bete is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death.  Henri Aleken subtle black and white cinematography combines with Christain Berard's masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema a children fairytale refashioned into a stylist and highly sophisticated dream. 

" The film unfolds to a perfectly poised slow tempo in surreal settings that gain intensity from the fabulous decor and the costumes, the glittering lighting and the many moments of magic effects. The candle- lit shadow- play deepens the gothic atmosphere of the beast's castle, harking back to early expressionist classics of the genre."

Figure 3 

The dialogue in french is spare and simple with the story largely told in pantomime and the music of Georges Auric accompanies the dreamy, fitful moods. The settings are likewise expressive, many of the exteriors having been filmed for rare architectural vignettes at Raray, one of the most beautiful palaces and parks in all France. and the costumes  too by Christain Beard and Escoffier are exteriors affairs, glittering and imaginative, lacking only the glow of colour.

Illustration list

Figure 1; La Belle et Bete (1946)

http://vintagegal.tumblr.com/post/125377903802/la-belle-et-la-b%C3%AAte-1946 

( Accessed 27/10/2015)

Figure 2

http://billets.domec.net/post/2011/06/29/Le-Bac-%C3%A0-sable ( Accessed 27/10/2015)

Figure 3

https://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmx84mDnXI1qjqqalo1_500.gif (Accessed 27?10/2015)

Bibliography

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1001902-beauty_and_the_beast ( Acessesed 27/10/2015)

http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/education/gothic-classroom/la-belle-et-la-b-te-1946

( Acessesed 27/10/2015)

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B03EFD71E3EEE3BBC4C51DFB467838C659EDE (Acessesed 27/10/2015)