By Jon Warner
Few films brim with the kind of cinematic magic as Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bete. For it’s entire 93 minutes, Cocteau implores us to view the proceedings with childlike wonder and suspension of disbelief. His call to order in the prologue asks us to indeed suspend our disbelief, but even more than that, it’s a request to hearken to our recollection of fairy tales as children and to adopt that sense of respect for the significance of imagination. As children our first encounters with the concept of “falling in love” involve fairy tales, and stories of princesses and princes. These archetypal stories create a larger than life sense of grandeur and most often, unrealistic portrayals of true love. Still, our early lives can be shaped in this way. I’m often reminded of this when I watch films like The Little Mermaid or Disney’s Beauty and the Beast with my daughters. Cocteau asks us to adopt this sensitivity when watching his film. Therefore, Belle’s compassion is unquestioned and The Beast’s good heart shines through and we know things will work out in the end. This is no knock on the film. For although La Belle et la Bete is a fairy tale with some predictability, the elements are plenty dark and sinister enough to lend themselves well to the sense of imagination and surrealism that Cocteau brought to his cinema. Thus, the sense of childlike wonder we adopt while watching it is coupled with our adult awareness of sensuality, carnality, and ambiguity, giving the film just enough of a subversive angle to mess with our heads.
Belle lives with her father and two sisters, Adelaide and Felicie, along with her scheming brother Ludovic and friend Avenant (Jean Marais). Her father goes to settle some debts in a nearby town and on the way home that night, stumbles upon a strange and sinister castle. This is no ordinary place. Doors open and close on their own. Candles are held by movable arms in the hallway. A lone hand pours him a glass of wine at a table. Faces peer out from the mantle next to the fireplace. He spends the night there but upon attempting to leave the next day, comes face to face with The Beast (also Jean Marais), a talking, lion-like creature who stands upon his two feet. The Beast sentences him to death, but provides him an out. If he gets one of his daughters to come live with The Beast, the father’s life will be spared. The daughter who accepts this challenge, is Belle. Played by Josette Day, Belle is a beautiful and slightly mature woman (Day was 32 at the time of filming) who is keenly aware of the differences between herself and her sisters. They are manipulative, catty, and superficial. Belle seems to have a piercing sense for honesty and truth. Thus, her commitment to proceed to the castle attends a noble kind of cause. She realizes she is called to this challenge. Upon entering the castle, there exists one of the most gorgeous moments ever to grace the screen. Against a black hallway and the outstretched candles, Belle runs with her flowing cape in glorious slow motion through the corridor and up a flight of stairs. Then she seems to float down a hallway where the curtains blow in her path. These ethereal and otherworldly transportations heighten our sense of magic and mystery. When she comes face to face with The Beast, it’s almost HE that is more afraid than SHE. He can’t handle her looking into his eyes and will only meet with her every evening at 7pm to ask her to be his wife. Soon, she begins to see the good in his heart and the struggle within his soul, and is drawn to him.
There are really interesting psychological moments in the film which give keys to Belle’s and The Beast’s state of mind. There’s this point where Belle is hiding in a corridor and The Beast comes to her door, his hands smoking after he has killed some animal from hunting. He stops at her door, perhaps because he wants to enter her chamber and ravish her. When he finds the room empty, there is a sense of frustration on his face and then he peers into the magic mirror only to find that she has spied his entrance into her room. His pride is hurt. She gains the upper hand. Later, after another time of killing and hunting, he comes to her door, smoke pouring from his body and blood streaking his clothes. Again, the implication is that he is ready to continue his “hunt” by entering her chambers. Yet she confronts him boldly at the doorway, saying that his behavior is beneath him, sending him coldly away. She will stand for nothing less than respect. He returns this respect to her when he allows Belle to return home to see her father if she promises to return. He tells her if she doesn’t return that he will die. Belle is given a magic glove for transportation and a golden key to the Beast’s magical riches. When Belle returns home she finds her father very ill. Her sisters become jealous and steal the key from Belle, and then they set Ludovic and Avenant into action to kill the beast. Belle is detained beyond the 7 days which the Beast granted her, and when she returns, find the Beast near death from his broken heart and spirit. At the close of the film, by miraculous magic (per fairy tale lore), Ludovic and Avenant are foiled, the Beast is turned into a prince, and Belle and the Prince fly off into the clouds.
Cocteau uses lots of whimsical touches to infuse his film with the sense of the otherworldly. Many of the memorable touches involve rewound film during key moments, like when Belle uses the magic glove and appears in her house for the first time. Or there are quick editing effects, like when a tear falls from Belle’s face and her father catches a diamond in his hand. These creative illusions were one of Cocteau’s greatest strengths as a director. The magnificent camera-work by Henri Alekan is awash in shadow, deflected light, and flowing wardrobes. These effects upon the viewer often force us to confront the unknown….into shadows and down corridors where we aren’t sure what will happen. Jean Marais fares very well in the Beast costume. I’m often surprised at how much feeling he is able to convey through his eyes. Day is the perfect fairy tale heroine, both strong and feminine in her determinations. At the close of the film, Cocteau infuses a sensible subversion into our adult heads. The Beast is turned into the handsome prince, and right away Belle isn’t quite sure she likes the idea. She isn’t ready to trust him just yet and he looks like someone she knew once. She is disappointed and even acknowledges it before succumbing to tradition and flying away with the prince, which makes us wonder whether she would have been even happier with The Beast as he was! I’m always intrigued by the fact that she was ready to “commit herself” in love to the Beast. What that looks like in actuality isn’t so important as the sentiment behind it. That she looked beneath the surface and found his heart is the true act of love. She didn’t need the human likeness in him to achieve this epiphany.
Beautifully written. Capturing the essence of this film. It certainly isn’t light entertainment. The richness, the magic, the morality of ego, versus authenticity, Love.
I just recently viewed this for the first time not more than a year ago. I was enraptured, and pursued a conversation about all the underlying messages.
The one concept I do recall considering, is your mention at the end of Belle’s seeming to love the Beast more than the handsome prince. Yet was it not her love of him that turned him into that handsome prince?
Thank you for this wonderful essay !
Yes true! So it’s quite a conundrum. There is a lot going on at the end of the film. I actually should do myself the favor of reading the fairy tale to see whether this content is in the original telling, or whether it’s an interpretation of Cocteau’s. If anyone else here has the perspective on the original content, I’d be curious to know. It’s such a diabolical piece of subversion for Belle to be less than enthused at first with the prince. It goes against everything that we are “taught” about happy endings. Thanks Jeff.
Maybe it is more vanity than concern. As Fanny Brice sings in Funny Girl, “the groom was prettier than the bride?” Or even another Barbra Streisand reference from the Mirror Has Two Face. After she makes herself Beautiful for him and he doesn’t like the change, even though she is the same person on the inside, or is she?
Yes very good points. I like your thinking here. We tend to feel different and act different when we change our appearance. Whether real or imagined, we become different in some fashion when we change our outward features.
An excellent essay on a movie that I really must get round to watching again: it’s been years since I last did so — in fact, I think it was when I was writing about both this and the Disney animated version of the legend. The latter, interestingly enough, echoes that hesitation Belle feels when the Beast she loves becomes the handsome prince. We see her briefly taken aback, and the animators seem to reinforce the point through making the prince a sort of bland Rentaprince.
Haha Rentaprince. This is a fair reading of that moment in the animated version. However, my reading of it is probably more from the “shocked and skeptical” angle that Belle has, not so much a dissapointment like in the Cocteau version. Does this make sense?
However, my reading of it is probably more from the “shocked and skeptical” angle that Belle has
To be honest, that’s not the way I saw it: it seemed to me that she was, at least momentarily, disappointed that her Beast had been replaced by a mere prince. As I first watched the Disney movie some years before I encountered the Cocteau one, I don’t think it’s likely that I was, as it were, carrying over my interpretation of that moment from La Belle et La Bete to the animated movie. (I recall that my wife, who was with me at the time, read exactly the same into it — we joked about it on the way home from the cinema, me promising her I’d not turn into a handsome prince.)
Maybe it’s just me then. We have the DVD at home so maybe I’ll check out that ending tonight and report back. Thanks for the push.
Okay I just rewatched the ending of the Disney version. I maintain my reading of it. Belle’s reaction is one of hesitancy and skepticism, not of resigned disappointment. Once Belle looks the prince in the eyes, she’s all for it. I don’t believe it’s the same sort of ending in the Cocteau version. Cocteau acknowledges and validates the disappointment before moving on.
is one of hesitancy and skepticism, not of resigned disappointment
If you’ll check back, what I described was “it seemed to me that she was, at least momentarily, disappointed that her Beast had been replaced by a mere prince”; that’s kinda different from “resigned disappointment”.
Anyway, we must agree to disagree.
No I understand but am saying that the resigned dissapointment is in the Cocteau version, not what you were implying or saying. I didn’t clarify well. But yes we will have to part ways on this particular point.
But yes we will have to part ways on this particular point.
Fair enough. At the same time it’s worth noting that that particular generation of Disney feature animators were a pretty bright bunch very much aware of cinematic history. My suspicion — and I hadn’t seen the Cocteau movie at the time so confess I never asked any of them — is that they knew exactly what they were doing, and that the visual/thematic quote was deliberate.
Exceptional review. This is still one of the more faithful versions of the fairy tale. The rich decor and trick camerawork inside the magical castle add to the film’s elegance. Jean Marais is wonderful. Fully entitled to a high finish.
Agree Frank all the way. Amazing that Marais is able to pull off what he does under that get up. Thanks!
Your delineation of Jean Cocteau’s exquisite visual poetry is simply magisterial Jon, and this marvelous piece is a true labor of love for one of the cinema’s most venerated classics. I actually figured this would end up in the Top 5, but at Number 7 that is certainly fair enough. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is a story that has been told repeatedly in film, on stage, and on the printed page. The most recent in the latter category is a lovely picture book with illustrations by Pat Cummings. The 1991 Disney version is magnificent, but there is none to approach this 1946 treasure. Just part of your superb treatment is as follows:
Cocteau uses lots of whimsical touches to infuse his film with the sense of the otherworldly. Many of the memorable touches involve rewound film during key moments, like when Belle uses the magic glove and appears in her house for the first time. Or there are quick editing effects, like when a tear falls from Belle’s face and her father catches a diamond in his hand. These creative illusions were one of Cocteau’s greatest strengths as a director.
Really super work here Jon!
Thanks Sam I do feel like I need to pick up the book to build upon my understanding. Thanks for your great support Sam it has been a privilege to provide so many essays for this countdown.
I do feel like I need to pick up the book to build upon my understanding
There are various different retellings of the traditional tale (I think Andrew Lang did one, for example, and the Comtesse de Wotsername), but all the ones I’ve seen are just a few pages long — not a book. For book-length works you’d have to go to some far more recent revisionist expansions of the legend. Robin McKinley did an excellent one, I recall; Sheri S. Tepper wrote an interesting novel (called Beauty) that matched up this legend with Sleeping Beauty and a boggling amount of other stuff. And so on.
If you go to Project Gutenberg (or wherever) for a straightforward retelling, though, I’m pretty certain all you’ll find are short-story-length versions. I’d doubt if any of those go into such detail as whether or not Belle had a moment’s doubt on seeing the prince emerge from the shadows of Beast.
Well what the films would be based on would be the basic fairy tale. I wouldn’t want to evaluate modern retellings of the story. I think I’ve found some multiple versions at my library and they’re all about 30-30 pages. Will scope it out tomorrow.
A terrific, poetic film. Much the same for this excellent review. Surprised Sam didn’t mention the great score in his comment.
Jon, I was lucky enough to see this on the big screen about a year ago – the amazing camerawork is the thing that has stayed with me the most. ‘Ethereal and otherworldly transportations’ is a perfect description. I’d be interested to return to the Disney film in the light of the Cocteau and see how much it is influenced by it.
Well thanks Judy for commenting here. The camerawork is amazing. Henri Alekan has a nice body of work and his command of the screen is really transportive. I do believe the Disney film is influenced a great deal by the film, but I don’t believe, as another does here, that the endings are the same. Cocteau’s finale leaves Belle a bit underwhelmed by the prince. Disney’s version leaves Belle more shocked than anything, but she looks into the prince’s eyes and sees it’s the same man/beast and is still enraptured by him. I believe the two endings have a different tone.