BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (aka LA BELLE ET LA BETE) (1946)
Director: Jean Cocteau
Screenplay: Jean Cocteau, Illustrated by Christian Berard based on the story by Mme. Leprince de Beaumont
It
is now impossible to discuss “La Belle et La Bete” without putting it in
comparison to Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”, so let’s start with how Jean Cocteau’s
masterpiece was the inspiration behind Disney’s version of “Beauty and the
Beast.” Now for me to simply say that without context, one would say “Well,
sure, they’re both “Beauty and the Beast,” that’s no surprise, what the big
deal?” Well, sure the story wouldn’t have changed much, but what will surprise
many people who haven’t seen it is how close Disney actually was to the vision
of Cocteau, and why not? Cocteau’s film is one of the few great live-action films
that I can truly declare without the hint of insincerity or sarcasm, a fairy
tale.
In fact, in many ways it’s more whimsical and despite being over sixty
years old, it’s even more amazing than Disney’s. There are scenes in this movie
that I stare at awe at the screen and wonder aloud, “How did they do that?” Not
just the make-up, which is startling realistic even today, but also the set
design of the castle, which like the Disney version, is a mystical character in
of itself, with possibly many smaller little characters, hovering inside its
wall. Disney made many of them elaborate characters on their own, with accents,
words and personalities, but the hallway filled with candles that are held
eerily and moved by outstretched human arms coming from inside the walls, and
statues that move and stare and observe, even a kitchen and dining area that
seems to run practically on autopilot…, even a magic mirror that… now I know
for the most part how they did it, what amazes me most is how incredibly
beautiful the effects continue to hold up even today.
Cocteau
is one of those artist who excelled in so many fields, starting as a dancer in
the ballet actually, before moving onto poetry, filmmaking, theater, etc. He
never really stuck to one medium to long, so his name doesn’t necessarily come
up in conversations of the best directors, but it should. He often took
inspiration from the surreal, multiple times using the Orpheus myth for his
films, including “The Orphic Trilogy” of “The Blood of a Poet”, the
masterpiece, “Orpheus” and the meta-surreal “Testament of Orpheus”, yet those
films while definitely filled with stylistic touches that defy him, were
strangely mostly trying to comprehend these more magical tales in a modern
setting.
“La Belle et La Bete”, makes no bones about it. It literally tells us
right up front, don’t think too deeply, it’s a fairy tale, right in the opening
text crawl and that the film is to be enjoyed in the same tense that say, a child
would viewing his first magic show. The awes in amazements are appropriate, no
matter how often we may now know the tricks of the trade, it’s the how he
pulled them off that’s amazing.
I
can see why Cocteau insisted on the rare, “illustrated by,” credit to Christian
Berard, taking inspiration from Gustave Dore, who did the artwork for the most
famous book version of the story, these images could have come out of a
children’s picture book. Cocteau was as great and serious a filmmaker France
has ever produced, but even he resorted to “Once Upon a Time…” to tell this
magical story. Seeing how much preparation and time he put into this film, when
most filmmakers wouldn’t have bothered helps me to realize how much of a
gigantic standard Disney had to live up to.
I mention the Disney film because
comparisons are now and forever inevitable. The Disney film will be added to
the Canon eventually, probably sooner than later, and like most people in
America, especially those of age to have seen Disney’s when it came out, saw
their version first. Cocteau’s live action film is better. Partially because
animation has the unfair advantage of being better suited to such magical tales
than live action, (and it’s to Disney’s credit that they went above and beyond
for their version) but seeing the live action, shot mainly on a film stage,
looking as whimsical and beautiful as any animated film (and in black and
white)…; I’d argue that “La Belle et La Bete,” compares favorably to “Citizen
Kane,” or any live action romance or costume drama of the time, or since.
I certainly
can’t think of any live action fairy tale that’s comparable. And in case you
haven’t gotten the point yet, don’t think that because you’ve seen the latter,
you don’t have to see this one. There are more-than-enough differences in the
versions of the stories to appreciate both of them even more. Few movies have
amazed and awed people as in the same way this movie does. Of course the
costumes, the whimsical story, and especially the set designs, but what maybe
the most striking images in the film, are the incredible close-up shots of both
Belle (Josette Day) and Beast (Jean Marais, who plays a few characters in the
film). They are striking, their eyes are full of emotions they can’t
understand, and they’re both desperate to be loved by each other. He doesn’t
use them often, but Cocteau uses them at exactly the right time. When it comes to combining romance with fantasy, neither Disney nor
anybody else has yet to match up with Cocteau.
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