Since I always professed true love for old black & white classic movies, it comes as no surprise that Cocteau's version of Greek myth about Orpheus and Eurydice is one of my all-time favorite movies and even now I treasure memories of that magical old masterpiece that thrills me every time I watch it again trough the years. Who know why it took me so long but now I finally turned my attention to another famous work by this French director, his even older movie about Beauty and the Beast.
It must be one of the most unusual, unforgettable and life-changing cinematic experiences I ever had.
For one thing, every single scene in this old movie is pure perfection of artistic expression and everything is so sophisticated and dreamy that it makes you wonder whatever happened to cinema in the meantime because it seems that certain point in the history we actually had visionaries like Cocteau (and Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini and few others) who had approached the medium as an art form that invites visual creativity instead what we see today, a synthetic fast-food entertainment tailored for teenage audiences who love fart jokes and computer animation. Well, Cocteau did not have computer animation and he actually instructed real live actors how to behave, they all moved, talked and acted with precise, theatrical elegance that is not even meant to look realistic (nobody even talks or moves realistically, they are all very delicate and artificial, almost like ballet dancers) since this is fairy tale, after all. At the very beginning, even before movie actually starts, Cocteau ask the audience to approach this story with childlike innocence and faith, to enter the magic land of make-believe with open heart and enjoy the tale.
Once upon a time...
With surprisingly substantial script built around the slim fairy tale about Beauty who has to sacrifice herself and live with horrible Beast, we are drawn into the magic land and fairytale village where characters are almost Kibuki-like, black & white pantomime. Almost everyone (except the Beauty and her good father) is greedy, manipulative and nasty: her two sisters are vain creatures who perceive themselves entitled to aristocratic circles and her brother is a lazy gambler who gambles away their furniture so money lender empty the house rooms even while sick father lies on his death bed. The Beast live in his own castle full of dark shadows and strange, invisible servants - ghostly hands hold the torches and eyes of the sculptures follow Beauty everywhere she walks. We can also simply feel that her initial disgust of her host turns not just into acceptance but (between the lines) perhaps a sexual attraction. Beast might be repulsive, because he is hairy and horrible to look at, but his gentle eyes and gentlemanly behavior towards her shows there is more than meets the eye and yes, its exactly because he is symbol of unrestrained, animalistic passion hidden inside that Beauty finds herself so fascinated with him. She might even like the idea to be ravished by him, though this has never been said explicitly. That he eventually turns into handsome Jean Marais is not a surprise, we kind of expected him to be some magic creature under a curse but what is a surprise is that at the end we actually miss the Beast the way he was before the curse was lifted. Like everything else in this movie, the ending is completely artificial and we are supposed to be glad for the Beauty who now holds impeccably curled and outfitted Marais in her arms, though what we actually feel is that she might prefer hairy Beast instead. It might have not been director's idea, after all he was just following the outline of fairy tale, but from my perspective I see it as a weak ending where girl would be far happier with the Beast than with this supermodel who lacks the excitement she knew earlier.
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