Tuesday 25 October 2016

Review: La Belle et la Bete by Jean Cocteau (1946)

Figure 1: La Belle et la Bete by Jean Cocteau (1946)
La Belle et la Bete is a 1946 French adaptation of the story of  'The Beauty and the Beast' written in 1757 by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The film is black and white, with extreme contrasts in its blacks and whites, from the inspiration of its chalk on black paper concept art by Christian Berard.         The plot of this adaptation is about how Belle's father gets sentenced to death by the Beast for picking a rose from his garden. Belle then runs to the Beast to take his place and then the Beast proceeds to fall in love with her and treats her like a queen along with asking her to marry him every night until she agrees. Belle grows more fond of the Beast throughout, and the Beast goes on to test her love for him by letting her go back to her father for a week, stating to her if she doesn't return, he will ''die of grief''. Belle then returns, although bringing Avenant and Ludovic with her, who attempt to steal the Beast's riches along with killing him.
           ''Cocteau, a poet and surrealist, was not making a ''children's film'' but was adapting a classic French tale that he felt had a special message after the suffering of World War II: Anyone who has an unhappy childhood may grow up to be a Beast.'' (Erbert, 1999).  This adaptation is definitely not the same as the 'fairy tale' Disney version we are all used to, it has emotions, deeply present within its characters, emotions that may be on edge, conveyed by it's Freudian symbols and haunting images. 

Figure 2: Beast Carrying Belle Through the hallway
The Beast home is conveyed in a very weird and surrealist way within the film. His candelabras are held up by human arms that move out when someone walks past them. Again, when at the dinner table, there is an arm coming out of the table, serving the drinks for the diners. The heads of the statues move along with their eyes following the characters around as they walk. The doors are opened by more arms along with some of them even opening themselves. Smoke rises from the beast's hands and back, every time connotating when he has killed something, and there is a scene where Belle seems to just glide across the floor, with no footsteps. ''The Beats's dwelling is one of the strangest ever put on film--Xanadu crossed with Dali.'' (Erbert, 1999).
      The set is designed in a very grand way. The beast's magical riches are conveyed very successfully through the design. With the hands holding the candelabras, the grand stone staircases, massive fireplaces. Along with Belle's personal room, with its own garden growing within it. Furthermore, through the grand stone statues of humans throughout, along with the secret gardens, and massive archways, and finally the horses stable underneath the grand castle. 

Figure 3: La Belle et la Bete by Jean Cocteau (1946)
Looking at the sexuality of the relationship between the Beast and Belle, it is immediately obvious that Belle is represented in a very different way to other films from the same period. She isn't oppressed, in fact she is in control, she controls the Beast and he worships her and her beauty. He would do anything for her. There is a scene at the beginning in which Belle faints yet it doesn't convey the weak, suppressed view of women the period had. At the end of the movie Belle states that she enjoys getting scared with the beast, which seems inadvertently sexual in nature. The Beast also continuously asks Belle to marry him, in essence asking her to have sex with him, due to the periods beliefs to not have sex before marriage. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

1. Erbert, R. (2016). Beauty and the Beast Movie Review (1946) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-beauty-and-the-beast-1946 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2016]. 

ILLUSTRATIONS:

FIGURE 1: Cult Films and Cultural Significance. (2016). La Belle et La Bête(1946) – Jean Cocteau. [online] Available at: https://brendancultfilms.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/la-belle-et-la-bete1946-jeancocteau/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2016].

FIGURE 2: Gwarlingo. (2016). Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast : More Than Meets the Eye. [online] Available at: http://www.gwarlingo.com/2012/jean-cocteau-beauty-and-the-beast/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2016].

FIGURE 3: Snapshot Mania. (2016). La Belle Et La Bête (1946). [online] Available at: https://hr19screensnapshots.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/la-belle-et-la-bete-1946/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2016].



2 comments:

  1. "He would do anything for her. There is a scene at the beginning in which Belle faints yet it doesn't convey the weak, suppressed view of women the period had. At the end of the movie Belle states that she enjoys getting scared with the beast, which seems inadvertently sexual in nature. The Beast also continuously asks Belle to marry him, in essence asking her to have sex with him, due to the periods beliefs to not have sex before marriage." This is exactly the kind of observation that begs for some supporting evidence - I know I suggested this at the end of the film today, but it would be much stronger in terms of a critical review if you were able to support/evidence this idea of the sex/erotica present in the film.

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  2. Hi Polly,

    Yes, I agree with Phil... you really need to start digging deeper now to explore all these different ideas. See here for example -
    https://culturalzeitgeist.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/beauty-and-the-beast-la-belle-et-la-bete-between-novel-and-film/

    You are asked to support your own analysis with (at least) 3 quotes, so you should be looking for quotes that are really useful to your discussion. (Don't forget to italicize the quotes too!)

    You have talked about the HOW the film looks; it would have been useful to talk about the WHY a bit too - the links between the collaboration of Bérard and Cocteau for example.

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