Le Belle et la Bete (1946) (AKA Cocteau's
Beauty and the Beast)
As film ages, it often becomes context
and with Jean Cocteau's "Le Belle et la Bete," context
is almost all that is left. One must consider that
the film was made on a small budget in post-war France
in 1946, and judge much of its acting and story and
visuals by this point. Also to be considered is how
more recent versions of the story have drawn upon
this telling. One must see it within the context of
its nation of origin. And one must see it within the
context of Cocteau's life and work.
The most important aspect of the
film which remains intact is its visual sense. In
reinventing the story, Cocteau began with a simple
titles sequence where words were written on a blackboard.
Cocteau even stops these proceedings for a moment,
to remind us that we are seeing a film and that we
are about to see a story that he is interpreting in
his own inimitable style.
For much of the film's beginning,
it is fairly straight- forward story telling. Belle
is living in near-poverty with mean sisters and valiant
suitors in what seems to be the 1700's. She places
her love of her father above her own happiness and
gets placed in the hands of the beast for her troubles.
The film delves into fantasy and,
by extension, expressionism when Belle's father accidentally
wonders through the forest at night and ends up in
the clutches of the beast. Here we begin to sees Cocteau's
beautiful imagery. The Beast's palace is weird, eerie
and unique. Human arms jut from the wall, their hands
holding candles to light the way; Silent, ashen faces
peer from the wall, sculptures come to life which
leer wordlessly at the proceedings; Doors open majestically
by themselves. Cocteau creates these images masterfully
and the film breathes with a silent-era beauty and
imagination that recalls early German silent expressionism
while it also anticipates CGI by numerous decades.
It also seems vaguely reminiscent of a little Disney
film in the early 90's where teacups and grandfather
clocks came to life.
When the Beast appears, he too is
a marvelous creation of new and innovative techniques.
The make-up and appearance of the character dwarfs
the special effects of the era immensely. In the context
of the year it was released, movie audiences had probably
never seen a more stunning and awesome creature on
the screen. It looks amazing.
Cocteau wanted to reveal poetic
beauty utilizing film and numerous moments in "La
Belle et la Bete" point to this. Cocteau's poetic
ideals worked well with film and it seemed the perfect
starting point for the artist to begin his cinematic
exposition of the ideal. This film and this began
a string of four films in the late 1940's which worked
within the context of this thesis and culminated with
the masterful "Orphee" (AKA "Orpheus") in 1949.
While uniquely Cocteau and therefore
somewhat uniquely French, "La Belle et la Bete" suffers
in modern day screenings from its stylistic yet modest
approach to story and character. Every character is
rather simplistically drawn and, since this is an
adult re-telling, seems quite one- dimensional. We
never understand the reasons behind Belle's affections
for the father, her suitor or the beast. In fact,
she seems a bit of a hypocrite at times. Within these
same characterizations, we also find it rather difficult
to accept the love story here The Beast never does
anything that we find romantic but, by the same token,
Belle never does anything that seems to warrant his
desire. Much of this ruins what is a fascinating and
visually stunning film.
As it stands, in 2002, Cocteau's
"La Belle et la Bete" is a interesting document, a
period piece that only piques interest in a talented
artist embarking on a short but extremely important
career as a filmmaker.
Note:
With Jean Marais, Cocteau's longtime
companion.
At least 17 films and 3 TV series
have been made which tell or reference this story.
Viewed in Austin at the Dobie Theater
during December of 2002. The screening was for press
and the only person there besides me at the beginning
was a guy who has been on the "Reel Deal" cable access
movie review show lately. He mentioned Harry Knowles
several times as if they were friends. He said it
was Harry who talked him into coming to the screening.
Keith, the manager of the Dobie
was on vacation and one of his staff ran the event.
The film started a bit late and was a bit out of frame.
The film ran for at least 3 minutes with no sound
(Thank God for subtitles). This was supposedly a remastered
print, distributed by Cowboy, but it was scratchy,
full of emulsion spots (where the emulsion had flaked
off the celluloid), and the sound had some hiss. The
print was said to include "new footage" which probably,
in my opinion, is why it seemed a little long and
boring in stretches.
