Beauty and the Beast (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

French Fairy-Tale Masterpiece
Concocting elaborate fairy tales is something the French do exceedingly well, and in La Belle et La Bete Jean Cocteau adapts Madame Leprince de Beaumont’s classic tale into a film masterpiece.Cocteau opens the film with a short prologue in which he asks the audience to recall the time when we were children – and were able to believe in things we couldn’t see.Belle is the older sister in a family that has enjoyed prosperous times – in the past. The widowed father has now fallen on hard times. Many of his ships have been lost and when the last one finally comes to port, it won’t even pay the debts he already has. Belle has a younger brother and two wicked and greedy sisters who are determined to live as richly as possible – and they’ll lie and deceive to accomplish this.Father gets lost on his return from the bank where he discovers they’re bankrupt, and in a storm he takes refuge in the mysterious castle he finds. Inside the door, candlelabras light themselves and, even stranger, they’re held by human arms protruding from the wall. The arms hold the lighted candles and helpfully point the way. A mysterious dining room waits, heated by a large fireplace with sculpted faces with eyes that follow your movements.The story will be familiar enough to those who only know the cartoon version. Jean Marais takes on the role of both the Beast (with its 5 hour make-up job) and the Suitor Avenant, who wants to marry Belle, but would like the Beast’s treasure even more. He is good as Avenant, but he’s even better as the Beast, bringing an incredible vitality to the role under a hairy, fanged facade.Belle is not the singing bookworm of the Disney version, but rather the beautiful, virtuous woman who would sacrifice her own life for her father. Back at home Belle acts as a servant to her family, including the vain and bickering sisters – not because she’s an orphaned step-child as in Cinderella, but out of the goodness of her heart.Henri Alekan photographed the film in a scintillating black and white. About half the film was shot in beautiful locations in France and the rest on elaborate sets by Christian Berard. The spectacular costumes were designed at the house of Jeanne Lanvin, with Pierre Cardin supervising the men’s costumes.I have long held a special place for the tale, because in addition to it’s fantastical elements and wonderful story, the “moral of the story” is very moral indeed. Not just “don’t be greedy or bad” as in most other fairy tales, but emphatically “be good, and virtuous”. Without at least some of societies members willingness to be virtuous, society will crumble. “La Belle et La Bete” teaches that virtue has rewards in a most enchanting manner.Not recommended for little children – but if your child is old enough to be curious about matters of substance, they’re old enough for this film.

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Another wonderful Cocteau film (Orphee being another), a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story without any modern tricks, relying on atmosphere and dialogue to drive the story. The black and white filming adds to the eeriness, and the moving statues are nicely spooky and a simple low tech way. One of my favourite films of all time, though it will not be to everyone’s taste (in French with subtitles, old, black and white…).

What can I say that has not already been said about this classic – stunning to look at, endlessly evolving in terms of reception – it is undoubtedly a film that must be seen if you are serious at all about films, psychology, art or French culture – wonderful