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Beauty and the Beast A beautiful and mesmerizing fantasy. The story is familiar: young provincial girl Beauty, the only one of her family who cares about her father, takes his place at the castle of the Beast to save him. Gradually coming to care for the Beast, her love finally turns the Beast back into a prince. The amazing thing here is the style, so different from Disney's animated version (which I love, don't get me wrong) that they might as well have come from two entirely separate sources. The dichotomy between fantasy and reality is very marked, and yet, the meanings are switched. Beauty's home is modeled after domestic paintings by Vermeer and the like — very normal, balanced, and based in reality. The Beast's castle is expressionist, like German films of the 1920s — the candles are held by human hands sticking out of the wall, they come on by themselves, Beauty floats rather than walks down the halls, and everything is shrouded in darkness and mist. And yet, which is more real? That is, which is more true, in a metaphysical sense? The film only loses itself at the end, when the Beast turns back into the prince. Jean Marais' wonderful Beast, whom we have all grown to love, becomes a simpering, arrogant prince. Beauty, up to this time genuine and honest, becomes a coquette, flirting with the prince, and finding it hard to believe that he is the Beast...naturally enough, because he clearly isn't the same person. It is said that Marlene Dietrich, upon seeing Beauty and the Beast, wailed "Where is my beautiful Beast?" It's hard to blame her. Still, watch it, and then just cast the last ten minutes out of your mind. **** out of **** Cast Directed by Jean Cocteau Year of Release: 1946 Other versions Page last updated 9/29/04. |
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