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La Belle et la Bête (1946)

Director: Jean Cocteau

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1 review

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Cocteau's fairytale set standards in fantasy which few other film-makers have reached. Despite the Vermeer-like compositions, he has some trouble capturing the right tone for the 'realistic' scenes, but the sequences in the enchanted castle - wonderfully designed by Christian Bérard complete with fantastic living statuary, and dignified by a Beast at once ferocious, erotic and genuinely tragic - are pure magic. René Clément is credited as co-director, but had very little to do with the mise en scène.

Author: TM

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Leona Luk said...

Posted on Aug 05 2007 20:26 This film begins with a plea to the audience, asking us to retain a child-like wonder, and this is easy to do once we see the magical castle where the Beast lives. The scenes within the castle are easily the best parts of the film, and when Belle returns for a week to her family home, one wishes her to return to la Bete without further ado.
Negatives - there aren't too many. I felt the editing was a little choppy when moving from scene to scene, and I would have like some more background to where Belle's mother went and why she's the only good child her father has...otherwise, nicely done.

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