La belle et la bête (Cocteau, 1946)

La belle et la bête (Cocteau, 1946) - TSPDT #196

An impoverished gentleman has to leave his daugther to the beast for stealing a rose from its castle gardens.

The film doesn't make use of a linear logical structure, and it didn't strike me as a typical fairy tale - there is no real morale at the end. It is rather a fairy-tale like fantasy with a more or less modern story. Cocteau didn't bother too much with dangling story lines or back story, things are taken for what they are on screen - there was no recognizable subtext for me, not even some kind of metaphor of present life.

But the movie is still extremely enjoyable - the visuals are gorgeous and watching the actors is entertaining. I felt a sincerity in the innocence of the storytelling that I didn't mind the logic, or some of the technical shortcomings of the time.

I will definitively re-watch with audio commentary (criterion?)

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