Beauty and the Beast, or La Belle et La Bête, was made in 1946 and directed by Jean Cocteau. This film is a fantasy, complete with all of the magic and makings of a children's story, made for adults. It shows that films are able to reveal our childish sides that think of far away kingdoms with monsters and princesses, without being childish in the process (1). 

     Coming out of WWII, Cocteau wanted to show France that anything can be overcome with enough hard work and honor (1). He used Beauty and the Beast for this purpose as well as his art.

     Many say that this movie's artistic nature is rare in this time (1). The sets portray places in dreams, compassion that is simple at first glance, the Beast's primitive and animalistic nature, and awakening of the Beauty's passion as she discovers her sexuality. Beauty is a prisoner to virtue until she arrives at the Beast's castle and slowly realizes her attraction to his primal nature.

     This film compares the free man to the slave. The Beast is free because he can do what he wants but he is unable stay free because of his beastial instincts. Beauty is also slave to her virtue although she is also free to do as she choses(2). The emotion and passion of this film is clearly seen when it is needed to be.

     This film relies heavily on special effects to create a better fantasy world. The inventive and artistic nature of Cocteau and his crew really did a great job with this using the technology that they had. For instance, when Cocteau needed candles to magically light, he filmed them blowing out the candles and the actors walking backwards and doing their scene in reverse. Not only did this require some creative thinking, it also required great actors to be able to do their scenes in reverse.

     The use of cinematography in this film added to the overall effect of the fantasy world. The great use of mise en scene to show what needed to be shown. everything on screen had a purpose and even when nothing was on the screen, that nothingness still had a purpose. The use of contrast with mise en scene made you look at the important parts of the film where the emotion was being shown. 

     Beauty and the Beast reestablished Cocteau's place in the world of film after WWII. This film, although not the best of Cocteau's work, did an amazing job of showing the quality of the films of French cinema. 

Works Consulted

"The DVD Journal | Reviews : Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête): The Criterion Collection." The DVD Journal | DVD News, Reviews, Rumors, and Commentary. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. <http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/b/beautyandthebeast_cc.shtml>. (1)

"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Jean Cocteau, 1946) «." Dennis Grunes. Web. 07 Oct. 2009. <http://grunes.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/beauty-and-the-beast-jean-cocteau-1946/>. (2)