Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Composite Score: 86.3
Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair, and Marcel André
Director: Jean Cocteau
Writers: Jean Cocteau
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $298,718 worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Beauty and the Beast is the 1946 film adaptation by Jean Cocteau of the fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont about a French girl forced to live in a palace with a terrible beast in her father’s place in order to pay his debt to the beast. If you’re at all familiar with the 1991 Disney version, this isn’t far off in terms of major plot points. The biggest differences lie in Belle’s family, as in this version she has two sisters and a brother, all of whom have helped squander their father’s wealth, leaving him in the desperate situation that lands him at the mercy of the Beast. The other major difference lies in Belle’s suitor, this time named Avenant, who is a friend of her brother’s and not an entirely loathsome lout like Gaston in the Disney adaptation. Indeed, it is her brother, Ludovic, who plays the part of lout for the most part, with Avenant only joining the quest to defraud the Beast when he realizes that Belle might love the Beast as much as she loves him.
Cocteau has given us a really solid fantasy romance in terms of its story and technical elements. Thematically, I’m not totally sure where all of it was directed, but I do know that its central message of choosing virtue over appearances continues to ring true and was communicated well, even if the secondary themes of gender roles, wealth vs. status, and fated love feel a bit muddled. Visually, I have to applaud the costume, production, and makeup design, as it really does feel like a fairy tale unfolding on-screen. It looks like something taken fully out of time and given life from imagination. In particular, the Beast’s whole design continues to hold up beautifully this many years later, with his costume, makeup, and sound effects still impressing. Cocteau’s interpretation of the Beast’s “living” castle gives the whole thing an eerie, but strangely whimsical feeling, utilizing people essentially built into the sets to give it all a feeling of oddity that carries throughout the story.
The Beauty and the Beast story, though familiar, still manages to keep you engaged in this iteration. The plot of Belle’s siblings to keep her from returning to the Beast and to steal his riches makes for arguably a more interesting “villain” plot than Gaston’s quest to remove all options for Belle besides marrying him in the animated film. The side characters feel a bit more fleshed out, even if it is occasionally at the expense of the romance between Belle and the Beast. We don’t get a flirtatious montage in this film, it’s simply a continuous series of episodes between the pair that slowly builds their mutual friendship until it might just be something more. It’s more subtle, not quite as generically romantic, and potentially troubling if you think about it for too long, but it certainly checks the boxes of what anyone is probably looking for in a fantasy romance that doesn’t involve werewolves or vampires.
Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast offers a familiar but fresh take on the timeless fairy tale, delivering production excellence and compelling character arcs that earn the film a place among the Greatest Films of All Time. Some of the subtler points of the film might not hit the same for every audience, but the film’s central theme continues to ring true, and that keeps it worth watching. If you’d like to check it out, you can currently stream this film on Max.
