LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE (CERT. PG)
FRANCE 1946 DIRECTED BY JEAN COCTEAU
BLACK & WHITE 96 MINS
WITH: JEAN MARAIS, JOSETTE DAY
Cocteau’s hallucinatory, romantic version of the 18th century fairy-tale takes us into a realm of
enchantment where nothing is quite what it seems, where ugliness masks integrity and
handsome faces conceal treachery.
Introduced by Dr Isabelle Vanderschelden.
Louis Delluc Prize, 1946
‘One of the most spell-binding fairy-tales in all cinema.’ – The Times
‘A dream for very grown-up children. One of the cinema’s greatest and most poetic fantasies.’ – The
Guardian
‘A stylised and highly sophisticated work, at once dream-like and mockingly humorous in its
approach to the story.’ – BFI
‘A peerless fabric of subtle images; a fabric of gorgeous visual metaphors, undulating movements
ans rhythmic pace, of hypnotic sounds and music, of casually congealing ideas.’ – Bosley Crowther
‘The film’s outstanding triumphs are visual: the subtle black-and-white photography creates, along
with the masterly costumes and set-design, a vivid world of which the magical fairy-tale décor of
the castle is probably the best remembered.’ – Philip Kemp
