Beauty and the Beast
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.49 You Save: $13.46 (67%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.69 (click here) Category: VHS Video See more movie releases |
|---|
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
VHS Movie Reviews of Beauty and the Beast
Movie Review: a surrealist fantasy with freudian sexual overtones
Summary: 4 Stars
About one half hour into Jean Cocteau's La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast), the Beast (King Kong by way of Gustave Dore) reassures his captive Belle (Josette Day) that "there is no master here but you." It strikes us as a strange bit of logic, given that she was forced to come to this place and does not stay of her own will. The Beast wishes only to meet every evening at seven, if only to gaze upon her as she eats. It's not as overtly kinky as watching her put on nylons or some other traditional fetish, but it works for the Beast so I won't judge.
At one point later in the film, Belle allows the Beast to drink from her hands. "It doesn't repulse you?" the Beast asks. "No, Beast, I like it," and we imagine so does he. She later comforts him by running a hand through his fur. "You stroke me as one does an animal." Belle does not understand. "But you are an animal." It's so easy to forget sometimes, and the Beast has Belle to remind him. When he awakens her in the middle of the night, disheveled and stinking of deer blood, he can barely look at her. "Forgive me...for being a beast" he says with embarrassment. Belle is enraged. "These words are not worthy of you. Aren't you ashamed?" It's as though she caught him masturbating to the Victoria's Secret catalog. She tosses a shawl in his direction. "Go clean yourself up and go to bed."
Then the Beast puts on a leather mask with a zipper where the mouth should be and Belle makes him lick the pointy heel of her 9-inch stiletto boot.
Okay, that last part didn't happen. It's not that kind of movie... or is it? Not on the face of it, perhaps, but sexual and overtly Freudian undertones float throughout La Belle et la Bete as icebergs in an ocean, occasionally protruding the surface like, well, protuberances. At heart, what we have is a love story between a beautiful woman and a monstrous part-lion, part-man creature. Belle, the Cinderella-esque sibling of two spoiled sisters, becomes hostage to the Beast after her father unwittingly steals a rose from him. It doesn't make much sense, and it's not supposed to: the picture is surrealist in its truest sense, governed by dream logic. Like her paramour Avenant, the Beast asks for her hand in marriage and he is likewise rejected (both Beast and Avenant are played by the same actor, Jean Marais). True to her Electra complex, Belle claims she cannot abandon her father - indeed, she only leaves him (to live with the Beast) when by doing so saves his life.
As directed by Cocteau, Belle's entrance to the Beast's magical abode is really a thing of beauty (some of the French director's techniques would be appropriated, most notably, by Spike Lee and David Lynch). Traditional natural laws do not apply - she roams the hallways as though swimming in water. Belle doesn't walk, she glides through this Freudian playground of dream symbols: human arms hold up candelabras, statues open and close their eyes, always watching. Like much of her new home, the bed is organic, a living thing. When she first lays eyes on it, the furry comforter peels back, inviting her in. It's both erotic and terrifying (like most everything having to do with the Beast). Belle faints, overcome.
Love doesn't bloom between Beauty and Beast so much as Stockholm Syndrome-level sympathy for one's own captor/gimp. "Love can turn a man into a beast," Belle says. "But love can also make an ugly one handsome." Quite literally, in the case of Belle's ferine co-star (as those familiar with the fairy tale will know), but I wonder how much Cocteau truly believes it. We tend to think we are separate from our bodies, as though the interior and exterior selves are independent. But they are not. We are our bodies, and when the Beast ceases to have his, shed like a snake his skin, he ceases to be himself.
Interesting footnote: Jean Marais plays three roles in La Belle et la Bete, including the handsome Prince that Belle ultimately flies off with. In life, he played the role of Jean Cocteau's long time male lover (the director was openly homosexual). Marais would go on to star in a number of Cocteau's future films, including L'Aigle a deux tetes and Les parents terribles.
Movie Review: Dark magic
Summary: 5 Stars
The first third of La Belle et La Bete ma seem a little too long and a little too slow, but the film still has the power to cast its spell over an audience. At times, perhaps from a modern viewer's perspective, you find yourself admiring the technique a little more than its soul, and Jean Marais' performance as the Beast strangely pales compared to his two-faced suitor, but then he was never exactly a great actor. Yet the complexity that Cocteau manages to bring to the film is still surprising, with neither the brother nor suitor descending to the easy caricature of the two ugly sisters: the former knows he and his sisters are wastrels, but that doesn't make him less of a liability, while the latter is almost in denial of his own nature. But ultimately it's the magical design that seduces, a fairytale kingdom smack in the middle of a believable world, but neither necessarily a benign one.
Criterion's restored 2-disc DVD is quite superb, boasting an excellent transfer and a selection of very good extras. Recommended.
Movie Review: "Once upon a time" lovers shouldn't miss this dream of a film
Summary: 5 Stars
As an average American who has no knowledge of film techniques or criticism and who is a little intimidated by foreign films I was a bit hesitant to watch this version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. After a few minutes of viewing I forgot the movie was in French (English subtitles), forgot it was made over fifty years ago and forgot in was in black and white. The movie is absolutely stunning to look at. The actor's portrayals are amazing. And the sets and "special effects" are miraculous for a movie filmed in the 1940's. I admit I am a lover of fairy/folk tales and the story of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is a particular favorite of mine. I urge all other lovers of "once upon a time" stories to watch this gem. Movie Review: "My heart is good. But I am a monster."
Summary: 3 Stars
To call Jean Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" one of the most enchanting films ever made hardly begins to hint at its charm and creativity. While there are no catchy songs in this version, there still is enough wonder on the screen to please both children and adults.
A merchant (Marcel Andr?) invites death upon himself when he plucks a rose from the magical estate of a Beast (Jean Marais). The Beast agrees to spare his life in exchange for one of the merchant's three daughters. The most faithful of the daughters, Belle (Josette Day), goes to stay with the Beast and is initially taken aback by her new companion. However, she soon discovers that the Beast's outward appearance does not truly reflect his inner self.
The world Cocteau creates in "Beauty and the Beast" is truly amazing. One would think that statues and candelabras that come to life would not be convincing outside the animated realm or without the use of ample special effects. Yet, Cocteau manages to create an utterly believable live fairy-tale by using the simplest of filmmaking techniques. Not once do any of the scenes within the Beast's chateau feel false or silly. One actually believes that there is magic at work in the fantasy realm being depicted. While the Disney version of "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) is a treasure in itself, rest assured that this version is just as worthy of a viewing.
Movie Review: Absolutely Brilliant Josette Day.
Summary: 5 Stars
The tale of Beauty and The Beast has been told in various forms for thousands of years. In cinema we have adaptations in King Kong(1933); Frankenstein(1931); Jekyl And Hyde(1932); The Phantom of the Opera(1925); The Hunchback of Notre Dame(1939); Creature From The Black Lagoon(1954) and more recently Edward Scissorhands(1990) and Shrek(2001). The tale will continue to spawn new adaptations but for me there is only one version, Jean Cocteau's `La Belle et La Bete'(1946).
La Belle et La Bete is adapted from the abridged version of the fairy tale by Madame Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The story is interpreted as a young woman's coming of age tale with sexual desire being regarded as beastly. Therefore any man feeling this desire would be beastly and only when she learns to regard sexual desire as natural does she find happiness and the beast is transformed into prince charming. The film has a stronger masculine quality with emphasis shifting away from Belle towards the beast's character. The film has also been interpreted in terms of the creative process of artist and muse, suffering for your art. Cocteau also includes many references to mythology (ex: Pavilion Of Diana) pointing to the origins of the tale. Cocteau's version includes elements of the Cinderella fairy tale with the inclusion of the ugly sisters.
Jean Cocteau asks us, as an adult audience, at the start to suspend belief and see as a child, which was directed at critics whom he regarded as being too arty or intellectual, one notable being Jean-Paul Satre who had criticised Cocteau for his lack of political commitment. Cocteau replied that his only commitment was to himself and his art. (The suffering artist)
Josette Day and Jean Marais star as Beauty and the Beast respectively. Josette Day has exquisite statuesque presence, which gives her an unattainable cold quality, which is far removed from the original inquisitive na?ve peasant girl of the original tale. Jean Marais gives an excellent poetic theatrical performance of the beast suffering for beauty. Jean would later act in another Cocteau masterpiece, `Orphee'(1950). Together for lack of a better word they are magical. The cinematography was by Henri Alekan (Roman Holiday; Wings Of Desire) but I believe Cocteau to be the real genius behind everything in this film: set design, lighting, structure, symbolism, multiple layers, a real auteur.
I cannot recommend this film more highly, it's in my top 10 films of all time and it's unlikely to ever leave. If you don't like this then seek help.