La belle et la bête (1946)

Director:

Jean Cocteau
(more)

Writers:

Jean Cocteau (dialogue)
Jean Cocteau (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

23 December 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Rose | Beast | Magic | Forest

Awards:

1 win

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)
Noël Blin	...	Footman (uncredited)
Jean Cocteau	...	Voice of Magic (voice) (uncredited)
Christian Marquand	...	Footman (uncredited)
Gilles Watteaux	...	Footman (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Cocteau
René Clément		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean Cocteau		dialogue
Jean Cocteau		screenplay
Jean Cocteau		story
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont		story

Produced by
André Paulvé	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Georges Auric

Cinematography by
Henri Alekan

Film Editing by
Claude Ibéria

Production Design by
Christian Bérard
Lucien Carré		(as Carré)

Set Decoration by
Lucien Carré		(as Carré)
René Moulaert

Costume Design by
Antonio Castillo
Marcel Escoffier
Christian Bérard		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Hagop Arakelian	....	makeup artist (as Arakelian)

Production Management
Émile Darbon	....	production manager

Sound Department
Jacques Carrère	....	sound
Héctor Castillo	....	sound engineer: opera version
P. Gaborian	....	sound assistant
H. Girbal	....	sound assistant
Alain Lachassagne	....	sound restoration: 2002 restoration
Jacques Lebreton	....	sound
Mario McNulty	....	assistant sound engineer: opera version
Rouzenat	....	sound effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Foucard	....	camera operator (as Foucard)
Aldo Graziati	....	still photographer (as Aldo)
Raymond Letouzey	....	camera operator (as Letouzey)
Henri Tiquet	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Pierre Cardin	....	costume maker (uncredited)

Music Department
Roger Desormière	....	orchestra's conductor

Other crew
René Clément	....	technical advisor
Lucile Costa	....	script supervisor
Christian Faure	....	film restoration (2002 restoration)
Patrick Feuerstien	....	restoration supervisor (2002 restoration)
Roger Rogelys	....	general manager

Production Companies

• DisCina

Distributors

• DisCina (1946) (France) (theatrical)
• Lopert Pictures Corporation (1946) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Cowboy Pictures (2002) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Internationale Filmallianz (IFA) (1947) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• EMS (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Janus Films (????) (USA) (all media)
• Large Door Video (????) (Australia) (VHS)
• Madman Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2007) (New Zealand) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Centre National de l'Audiovisuel  2002 restoration
• Nonesuch Records  soundtrack album (1995 opera version)
• Paquin  costume maker (uncredited)
• Pontet et Cie  mask maker (uncredited)

Also Known As:

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

Runtime:

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

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Dolby Digital (1995 opera version)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Germany:16 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Château de Raray, Senlis, Oise, France

Company:

DisCina

Trivia:

So convincing was Jean Marais underneath his make-up as the Beast, that when he was transformed at the end back to human form, Greta Garbo famously said "Give me back my Beast!"

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: (At 30:00) The chin of the actor portraying the "arm candle branch" to the left of Belle as she nears the talking door is visible.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005)

Soundtrack:

La belle et la bête

From the fairy tale to Cocteau.

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.