╳ La Belle et la Bête




 To take a well-known fairy tale such as ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and transform it into marvellous piece of cinema is no small achievement. Jean Cocteau’s genius lay not just in realising the potential of such a project, but in having the creative vision to make it happen. One of the most important films in the history of cinema, Cocteau pushed film technology to its creative limits; and avoiding sentimentality, he succeeded in creating a film that is both visually entrancing and emotionally rewarding, whilst re-telling a familiar tale in a fresh and innovative way.
  
The most striking thing about this film is the visual imagery. The ghostly scenes in the Beast’s gothic castle are some of the most impressive and memorable to have been recorded on film. The eerie interplay of light and dark enables mere shadows to have as strong a screen presence as the actors. With its numerous living gargoyles and doors which open and close of their own accord, the castle in Cocteau’s film is as alive as the ‘beauty’ or the ‘beast’, and plays no less a rôle in the film. The effect which a ‘living background’ creates is very hard to convey however Cocteau manages to use this idea to create a domain where magic is as tangible as in a child’s dream.