Joseph Roman
11/4/10

La Belle et La Bete - The Beauty and The Beast (1946)
Country of Origin: France
Language of Film: French
Released in France October 29th, 1946
Released in United States September 23, 1947
Directed by Jean Cocteau
Starring:      Jean Marais — La Bête (The Beast) / The                
                                       Prince/Avenant
                   Josette Day — Belle
                   Mila Parély — Félicie
                   Nane Germon — Adélaïde
                   Michel Auclair — Ludovic
                   Raoul Marco — The Usurer
                   Marcel André — Belle's Father

Awards: Prix Louis Delluc (1946 – won by Jean Cocteau)


La Belle et la Bête, the film which marked Jean Cocteau's return to directing after an interval of 15 years, is a work which continues the vein of fantasy which had characterized his scriptwriting during the wartime years in France. The film is typical of its period, for the early postwar years in France saw no resurgence of realism in comparison with the emergence of surrealism in Italy. But in all other ways the appropriation of a fairy tale to the film maker's own personal mythology is a totally individual work.

I read two articles, http://people.wcsu.edu/mccarneyh/fva/c/La_Belle_et_la_Bete_780.html and http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~lenin/jean_cocteau_batb.html. The first article is gives a thorough explanation of the symbolism in the film. It also highlights the detailed sets of the film. The second article highlights Cocteau’s inspirations.

According to the second article, the film is based on the tale as told by Madame Leprince de Beaumont, but there is evidence in Cocteau's approach of the childlike innocence which the director demands of his audience in his brief introduction to the film. Visually, the film is one of Cocteau's most sophisticated works. The costumes designed by Christian Bérard and the lighting and framing devised by Henri Alekan are decorative rather than functional and take their inspiration from classic Dutch painting, particularly the work of Vermeer. Despite the presence of René Clément as technical supervisor, the film shows none of the reliance on complexity of scripting and use of heavy irony so characteristic of French cinema in the late 1940s. The legend is handled in a dazzlingly eclectic style.