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La nature au gallop – La beauté du monstre
La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast)
1946 / France / 93 min / Black and White / DVD
Director: Jean Cocteau
Co-director: René Clément
Writers: Jean Cocteau and Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Cinematography: Henri Alekan
Costume design: Marcel Escoffier
Music: Georges Auric
Cast: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Michel Auclair, and Marcel André
One day, a man with three daughters sneaks into a garden to pick a rose for the youngest girl, the gentle and beautiful Belle. This angers the garden’s owner, the Beast, who demands the man’s life or one of his daughters as punishment for this act of theft. To save her father from this predicament, kindhearted Belle offers to sacrifice herself. When the Beast first welcomes her to his castle, she is terrified by his hideous guise, but gradually she discovers that he is tenderhearted and finds happiness with him.
Based on Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy tale, designed to teach children that judging by appearances is wrong, this fantastic and elegant screen adaptation was written and directed by Jean Cocteau. It features special-effects makeup and gorgeous costumes that seem impossibly realistic for a film shot in the 1940s, and an invigorating and beautifully dream-like final scene. A masterpiece of fantasy that depicts the power of love, the work was awarded the 1946 Louis Delluc Prize.