La Belle et la Bête (1946)

7/30/2019 La Belle et la Bte (1946)

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La Belle et la Bte (1946)

Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteaus Beauty and the Beast is a film which reflects the

artistic style of director than anything else, it isnt the typical

Disney beauty and the beast film; its meant to be a film for all

ages and is defiantly a romantic film.

The Story of Jean Cocteaus Beauty and the Beast is well delivered,

its a true fairy tale and the world shown is well done, but

unfortunately the film doesnt age too well, even the guardians own

Derek Malcolm states that it is almost purely visual, even if a

Freudian analysis is possible.(Malcolm, 1999), this doesnt really

let the film down as it achieved what it wanted to visually and

story wise when it was released, the environmental and story aspects

of the film went together, and nothing was similar to it in

atmosphere and style when it was released, Jean Cocteau was able to

create a new genre in cinema by bringing to fairy-tale story to

life.

Figure 1. Film Poster


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Behind the beautiful ascetics of this film is a plot which is a

romantic fairy-tail at heart, its simply a story about a poorly

treated beauty who is able to look behind the fearsome demeanour of

a beast and find the good inside him, the plot of the film follows

the fundamentals of the fairy-tail.

As a visual piece the film was successful, and what the director

tried to achieve is very clear; as the film goes on you begin to

appreciate what was Cocteau was able to achieve. As the film start

Cocteau asks viewers to indulge in the film and suspend all

disbelief, there could be multiple reasons as to why he decided to

have that displayed before the film started though the disclaimer

was meant for viewers at the time of the films release, even then

sceptical viewers would appreciate the cinematography by Henri

Alekan though low-budget - production design adequate rewards in

themselves.(Brown, 2002), the technology wasnt there as the film

was made in 1946, but the artistic vision carried each concepts, a

good example of this was the use of hands to light up the corridor

with torches as Josette Day (Beauty) was running in hast along a

corridor, this might have seemed random at first but it fitted the

mood for the house she was now inside of, and it didnt seem as

though it needed a big budget to achieve this.

Figure 2. Corridor of the Beasts castle


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Jean Cocteaus film might not be the complete package for manyviewers in audiences but it did achieve something great things at

the time it was made, although it may not be viewed the same way by

modern audiences, the film is literally for everybody and with adult

sophistication and the childish naivet that comes with the fairy-

tale, its a film that everyone can relate to, it also relies on

simple cinematography to create the simple effects which go a long

way in changing peoples opinion of the films environment, the

enormity of scenes and displaying beautiful objects on the set.

Even the film's simple (non-digital) camera tricks can still shock

(Anderson, 2002) and its little details like this that work together

create the odd stylised environments in this Beauty and the Beastfilm.

Figure 3. Beauty and the Beast


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Bibliography

Illustrations

Figure 1: http://cultfilms2009.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/beauty-and-beast.html

Figure 2: http://www.horrorphile.net/beauty-and-the-beast/

Figure 3: http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=107375

Quotes

Malcom, D. (1999)it is almost purely visual, even if a Freudian

analysis is possible. In: guardian [online]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1999/jul/01/1(Accessed on

12/11/2012)

Brown, K. (2002) though low-budget - production design adequate

rewards in themselves. In: eyeforfilm [online]http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/la-belle-et-la-bete-film-review-

by-keith-hennessey-brown(Accessed on 12/11/2012)

Anderson, J. (2002) Even the film's simple (non-digital) camera

tricks can still shock. In: combustiblecelluliod [online]

http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/classic/bellebete.shtml

(Accessed on 12/11/2012)
http://cultfilms2009.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/beauty-and-beast.htmlhttp://cultfilms2009.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/beauty-and-beast.htmlhttp://www.horrorphile.net/beauty-and-the-beast/http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=107375http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1999/jul/01/1http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/la-belle-et-la-bete-film-review-by-keith-hennessey-brownhttp://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/la-belle-et-la-bete-film-review-by-keith-hennessey-brownhttp://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/classic/bellebete.shtmlhttp://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/classic/bellebete.shtmlhttp://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/la-belle-et-la-bete-film-review-by-keith-hennessey-brownhttp://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/la-belle-et-la-bete-film-review-by-keith-hennessey-brownhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1999/jul/01/1http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=107375http://www.horrorphile.net/beauty-and-the-beast/http://cultfilms2009.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/beauty-and-beast.htmlhttp://cultfilms2009.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/beauty-and-beast.html

Documents

La Belle et la Bête (1946)