IMDb > La belle et la bête (1946)
La belle et la bête
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La belle et la bête (1946) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   8,726 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

Down 8% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Jean Cocteau
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Writers:

Jean Cocteau (dialogue)
Jean Cocteau (screenplay)
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Contact:

View company contact information for Beauty and the Beast on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

23 December 1947 (USA) more

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance more

Plot:

A half-ruined merchant lives in the country with his son Ludovic and his three daughters. Two of the daughters... more | add synopsis

Plot Keywords:

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Awards:

1 win more

NewsDesk:

From 1922-1979: Get Your Film School Starter Pack Now
 (From Rope Of Silicon. 23 November 2008, 10:07 PM, PST)

User Comments:

From the fairy tale to Cocteau. more (79 total)


Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Jean Marais ... La Bête (The Beast) / The Prince / Avenant
Josette Day ... Belle
Mila Parély ... Félicie
Nane Germon ... Adélaïde
Michel Auclair ... Ludovic
Raoul Marco ... The Usurer
Marcel André ... Belle's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Janice Felty ... La Belle (1995 opera version) (singing voice)
John Kuether ... The Father / The usurer (1995 opera version) (singing voice)
Ana María Martinez ... Félicie (1995 opera version) (singing voice)
Hallie Neill ... Adélaïde (1995 opera version) (singing voice)
Gregory Purnhagen ... La Bête / Avenant / Ardent / The port official (1995 opera version) (singing voice)
Zhang Zhou ... Ludovic (1995 opera version) (singing voice)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:

Beauty and the Beast (International: English title) (USA)
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Runtime:

96 min | USA:93 min | Germany:90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1 more

Sound Mix:

Mono | Dolby Digital (1995 opera version)

Company:

DisCina more


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

Jean Cocteau used several different kinds of film stock because of the difficulty of getting stock immediately after the war. He claimed that the different visual textures added to the poetic effect of the film. more

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: Boom visible at the top of the picture during the entire scene when Ludovic and Avenant first approach Diane's pavilion. more

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Claude Jutra, portrait sur film (2002) more

Soundtrack:

La belle et la bête more


FAQ

How does it end?
Can the original fairy tale be read online?
Why was the same actor cast as both the Beast and as Avenant?
more
41 out of 50 people found the following comment useful.
From the fairy tale to Cocteau., 24 November 2002
10/10
Author: dbdumonteil

In France ,the fairy tale "La Belle et la Bête " is a classic by Madame Leprince de Beaumont.Try to read it if you haven't because you will realize that although Cocteau adapted the story,he took it to new limits ,he dramatically expanded the scope,and most of all,he wiped out an obsolete grating moral.

Mrs De Beaumont's fairy tale insists on virtue ,her story takes virtue over beauty,wit or anything life can bring.The two bad gals are strictly punished at the end of the story:they become statues at the gate of their sister's palace but -supreme humiliation-,they will keep their mind beneath the stone which covers them ,and thus be able to watch their sister's happiness.

While keeping the two sisters' characters,Cocteau leaves the "moral " angle far behind magic,symbolism,surrealism and psychoanalysis.Jean Marais plays three parts:Avenant,la Belle's suitor ,the Beast (four hours of make-up and terrible sufferings during the shooting:Jean Marais was one of the greatest actors France ever had -proof positive was that the new wave (with the exception of jacques Demy) clique never used him-,and the prince.These three entities that finally make one predates Bruno Bettelheim by thirty years:this is not only because Belle does not want to leave her father that she does not want to marry Avenant:she's afraid of the man,he's the real beast.This triple part is Cocteau's genius.Cocteau dropped out the good fairy who appears in a Belle's dream and then at the end of Leprince de Beaumont's story when she punishes the "vilainesses "and rewards the "good ones" Instead ,we have these sublime lines:

-You resemble someone I knew...

-Does it worry you?

-Yes ....(then a beaming face) No!!!

Two words coexist -like in the literary work-:the mundane bourgeois house of the merchant;the Bête's mansion,where everything is possible,where Cocteau uses special effect to create pure poetry,extraordinary enchantment .The two characters seem to act as if they are in a ballet. The passage between the two is first the mysterious forest.Then the Beast reveals his secrets five magic clues:the rose,the golden key,the glove,the ring and the mirror -some of them were in the story- and a horse "le magnifique" as the two worlds intertwines towards the end:Belle's room in her father 's room,in her room in the palace,Avenant coming to her rescue while the Beast is dying,the two characters soon to become one.

This is the best adaptation of a fairy tale for the screen.By writing the cast and credits on a blackboard,Cocteau winks at childhood -for a child he writes everything's possible -besides,it's because the prince did not believe in the fairies -all that is hidden for our poor rational spirit- that he was sentenced to his bestial life.Bruno Bettelheim thought children intuitively actually understood what lied beneath the fairy tales.They do not cry when the wolf eats the first two little pigs because thy do know that there is only one pig ,at three stages of its development.They won't cry when Avenant will be hit by Goddess Diana's arrow because they do understand in their subconscious that all in all,Avenant and the Beast are the same entity:beautiful prince,horrible

beast or simple young man share the same mystery.

Michel Tournier said that when his writing was at the height of its powers,he could appeal to children as well.Cocteau did the same for the seventh art.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for La belle et la bête (1946)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Jean Cocteau's or Disney's. therealpuppypower
Was the story about how the beast got transformed a lie Mxyzptlk-3
How about a colorized version? kungfuflygirl
Dog at the beginning doug-bright
Awesome movie. missheatherness
Similarity to the disney version of 1991? thereddishcolor
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