La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau, 1946, France)

Most people know the fairytale of Beauty and the Beast famously made by Disney. Here Cocteau involves a deeper sense of emotions between beauty and beast and though their relationship can never be fulfilled their love is true. Even a handsome prince changes nothing as the beast goes through his transformation in the end and mabey even to the worse. Greta Garbo famously shouted after the premiere, “Give me back my beast!”.

Cocteau was well learned in art history and avant garde art and many references to paintings by painters such as Fusili and Vermeer can be seen in the set design of Christina Bérard. Cocteau uncouraged his photographer Alekan to use less techincal cinematography to let the mise-en-scéne savor a bit. The film begins with “Once upon a time…” and then told with a melancholy smile and a child-like vision. The poet Paul Éluard said that to understand this film, man would have to love his dog more than his car.

Jean Cocteau always thought of himself as a poet but also wrote novels and plays, drew and painted, directed movies and ballets and also designed some sets for plays and movies. As a director he made a trilogy where he studies the life of the artist, Testament d'Orphée, Le, Orphée, Sang d'un poète, Le. The films reflect Cocteau as a poet and shows his skill in avant garde art such as surrealism. He casted his lover and friend Jean Marais (The Beast) in many of his films and never hid his homosexuality and it never brought down his brilliance. Though he worked briefly as a film-maker he directed six films and few more scripts, one more famous than the other Jean-Pierre Melville´s Les Enfants terribles. Cocteau though La Belle et la Bete wasn´t getting the right reviews so he wrote a preventive answer which was published in the press book for the U.S. premiere. (the essay can be read here). Though, nearly a decade later he is quoted in Newsweek (16. may 1955), „Asking an artist to talk about his work is like asking a plant to discuss horticulture.“.