La Belle et La Bête- Review

Director- Jean Cocteau

1946

A man whose lost all his riches picks a rose at an enchanted castle, angering the beast who is the lord. As consequence he has to give up one of his daughters or return to die. Is daughter Belle goes in his place, and despite being initially disgusted by the beast, she slowly warms to him.

This film really made me laugh, but probably not in the way that was intended. The leads over acted their hearts out. Every movement Belle made was delightfully over the top and I have rarely seen as camp a walk as the Beasts. I found neither especially convincing, and the Beasts beastly voice was naff. I don't approve of the direction as I found it hammy. All in all the camp-ness of the leads detracted from any romantic themes for me.

That said, I found the sisters and the brother of Belle absolutely spot on. Their over the top acting suited their roles. In fact I could have done with seeing a bit more of them in between the scenes that tried far too hard to be serious.

The double rolling of the Beast and the brothers best friend seemed a little odd to me, I don't really understand why they did that. It didn't make me like the beast, as I disliked the brothers friend, so I am unsure to the motive.

I also found the editing really bad in some places. There were a few scenes one after another which were too short and didn't really say anything, and a few scenes felt like they came at the wrong time in the story, for example Belle getting angry at the Beast coming to her room  really deserved to be earlier.

Back to the positives however, the sets and costumes were brilliant. I admit that Belle spent a rather lot of time being over dressed, but it was lovely to watch. The castle was stupendous and the family home was that homely fairy tale like image straight from a book. I loved the hands and moving faces in the beasts home, they definitely added a sense of magic (though I am never quite sure why Belle didn't try and communicate with them, I certainly would have something to say to a door that decided to inform me as to where I was).

The cinematography was also gorgeous. There were some lovely moments with flowing curtains and people walking into the camera.

Overall, it was a nice thing to see in the cinema. It reminded me of going to watch a panto more than a fairy tale picture, but I may have been spoiled by Disney. You can certainly tell that Cocteau was a surrealist with the likable quirks in the scenes, but I would say that there was some badly over the top acting and dodgy editing which prevented it from being added to my classics list.

It was good fun to go and watch, but not a favorite.