La Belle Et La Bete (1946)

La Belle Et La Bete is a famous French 1946 retelling of the familiar story of Beauty and the Beast.It is written by Jean Cocteau and directed by Rene Clement. In the film we follow Belle played by Josette Day, a young and beautiful woman who is strangely fascinated by the apparently horrific Beast, played by Jean Marais. Who later tests her loyalty by giving her a key and claiming that if she doesn’t return it to him by a specific time he would die of grief.

As a post war film the effects seem prehistoric to the modern eye, however for the time these were truly groundbreaking and had a great impact on films in the following years. What doesn’t seem prehistoric however is the makeup used on Jean Marais to transform him into the Beast. No it isn’t as good as the incredible modern day makeup you’ll see in films like The Darkest Hour. However it still very much holds up as a convincing representation of the Beast, and I’m sure at the time it was incredible for the viewers to see it.

By today's standards the plot is rather rushed, the film seems to jump about the story with no real finite objective. The time it takes for Belle to fall in love with The Beast took me by surprise and really caught me off guard, I feel like her love wasn’t earned by The Beast, and simple happened for the plot of the film. There is a real lack of consistent character development when it comes to The Beast and Belle. Yes they do have character development as they both change by the end of the film, but the development feels forced rather than natural to the characters and plot.

As much as I can criticise the pacing and structure of the plot, I can’t criticise the incredible set design and lighting that comes with it. Still to this day, the lighting is one of the best you will see in any film ever made. Even in black and white the sets come alive with vibrant and consistent lighting, the atmosphere is perfectly constructed via the use of light, or of course lack of light. The brilliant sets work because of the incredible work of cinematographer Henri Alekan, he uses light in an attempt to help the story and the atmosphere, rather than just making the set full of light for the sake of it. And that is what makes him great.

This film for it’s time was extraordinary, and in certain aspects it still is to this day. For anyone interested in film this is well worth a watch to understand the aspects of cinema that might have been inspired by this film or similar works, as well as the fact that this is a cinema classic and should be watched by anyone who has a great passion for the film industry.