Beauty and the Beast (1946)
The nameless Belle sacrifices herself in the name of love; initially out of love for her father, then out of love in general.
Why nameless? From French, 'belle' translated as 'beauty' this gives the story a note of absurdity, so expands the embedded image, leaving abstraction. The current idea of the name of the main character, the wine of the animation adaptation of the studio ' Disney', which surpassed the popularity of the original, therefore, left a tangible mark on the perception of the original and this inventive film by Jacques Cocteau.
The heroine becomes a hostage of the Beast to save her father, after which she begins to experience love feelings for her master - a kind of Stockholm syndrome, amid reflections on love and its irrationality.
Beauty’s decision can be considered a noble act in the last place: first, she fled from her father’s house, where she is laughed at by her younger (!) snobs, who do everything to be head above her sister and non-aristocratic environment, in this there is a parallel with Cinderella; second, she thinks of her love for Avenant, her brother’s friend. Therefore, the possibility of escape became manna of heaven.
The main action of the picture takes place in the beautiful castle of the Beast, which is located in another world: ' While we have night, you have day at home. We have a day, there's night & #39; The castle complements the element of absurdity with the surrealism of the location and its filling. The main technique in this was the contrast; the interiors of the castle are made in a strict black and white palette, getting rid of excess, leaving only the images of the main characters and their love clash. While the Beast tries to get Bel’s hand, she hides from him because he scares her, but the sadness in his eyes forces her to think: '. Maybe he's not an animal.'
The visual design is striking and surprising. As you know, the servants are bewitched and have become part of the house and its surroundings, the person and person are not left in them, they are an object that was used before the magic. This was portrayed rather frighteningly: body parts are used, hands hold candlesticks and prepare the table for dinner, and the heads surrounding the walls are hidden cameras, they merge with the background and watch and accompany the eyes of the characters every step. The surrealism of the Monster Castle is a manifestation of magic, which made its animal appearance and helps to exist within the walls of its family estate. Any manifestation of magic in the film is striking and surprising, it is as simple as beautiful.
Also, the tape shows that the family and loved ones can and are ready to betray you for reasons that will always be understandable only to them and hide under the mask “for your own good.”
Throughout history, love, its strangeness and various sides are considered. The usual notions of family love break down, the heroine's strange attraction to the Beast - an anthropomorphic animal, only because of the sadness in the eyes that betrayed a person in it. The finale leaves questions about the sincerity of the feelings of Beauty, insofar as it is.
This story is an unorthodox view of love, what it is, how it manifests itself, and what it means. (?)
Once upon a time, in a far, far away country, there were... How many stories begin with these lines? Yeah, everybody. And Jean Cocteau was not lazy and turned directly to the viewer. And this is already touching, although we have not seen the first real shots of the masterpiece.
And then we open a lot of paintings telling a familiar story from childhood. There is a beauty, there is a monster who took her into his good-natured captivity. Everything is familiar, but here we can see something more.
Luxury halls, with slow-moving candles and stone sculptures, diamond tears flowing down Belle's cheeks. And the endless love of the Beast, unable to cope with self-hatred.
Jean Cocteau was able to describe the brightest fairy tale using only the monochrome available at the time. Once upon a time, even at the cost of your own health. That Jean Marais got eczema, going through the most difficult makeup every day, that Cocteau himself went to the hospital with allergies. Real art requires sacrifice, because the result is there.
'Beauty and the Beast' is the case when a simple and naive tale becomes something more. When the passage through the palace of the screen hero is rather reminiscent of the Baroque era, and from every glance or successfully chosen angle takes your breath away.
The picture "Beauty and the Beast" marked the appearance of a new talented director, who later received the epithet "genius". Jean Cocteau preferred fantastic realism and even the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, published after the war, became an allegory. Cocteau moved away from the source in the direction of always beckoning themes mirrors, same-sex love and his own mythology.
The characters of the narcissistic sisters and brother became an allusion to the overwhelming number of Frenchmen who sat in the shadows during the war or pursued personal goals. Oppressed but ready for selfless self-sacrifice, Belle is a hero of the time. A fantastic castle with human hands, diamonds instead of tears, living statues or a magic mirror served as a reminder – from reality to escape.
Stunning fruits also bore the unyielding idealism of Cocteau. In terms of visual style, "Beauty and the Beast" is considered the most expressive example of cinema of the XX century. Starting from the pretentious details of the scenery to the complex movements of the camera, working to create a unique surreal atmosphere as if descended from an ancient engraving.
The Beast’s makeup had to be applied for three hours, but thanks to this, the mask retained its mobility and “realism”. Interesting fact: originally the director of the film Jean Cocteau wanted to give the monster the appearance of the ancient deity Kernun, similar to a deer. But the lead actor Jean Marais managed to convince Cocteau to use the mask of a more predatory and cruel beast. After filming, the actor noted that from the long use of the mask, he developed eczema, and because of false teeth, he had to eat one porridge.
Criterion Collection has restored the film and described it as “the enduring ideal of cinematic wonder.”
Smoke, mirrors, penetrating eyes, the wave of a hand and the power of a word - the magic is very close, in the molecules of air, to breathe deep enough to feel. Lost in a gloomy forest, the castle is full of wonders, wealth, exquisite wines and... pure breed loneliness. It is so long that the owner has long lost count of the years. Locked in the cage of his fear, he understands the value of sparkling stones like no other in his world. It is insignificant, it is insignificant, because in the heart pain and emptiness. Diamonds are beautiful, but they turn to dust so easily if the purity of the senses is clouded by self-interest. Surrounded by moving sculptures and staring bas-reliefs, the Beast is not waiting for guests. Only one little rose in the garden connects fiction and reality, but here it is plucked. A simple merchant, without knowing it, gives hope for love. The one born in spite of doubt, ugliness and envy.
A few years before Orpheus, Jean Cocteau created his first surreal world. It is like the beginning of a folio, the preface to which was a tale of the blood of a poet. The old, unsophisticated plot became for the Frenchman the point from which he came to painting fates, shrouded in a magical cover. Everything that happens before the appearance of the Beast, the author is not interested. The Belle family, like herself, cannot accept the supernatural. But as soon as the father is in the castle, he opens a picture of otherworldly charm. Appearing a stately figure in luxurious clothes is like a mockery of the floating wealth of the merchant. Cocteau makes the first important discovery: the ugliness of animal appearance is balanced on an invisible scale with human trust. The monster had trust. It did not make him happy, but it allowed him to wait patiently for his dream. Ironically, this is nowhere near Belle’s house. However, Cocteau does not need obvious answers to obvious questions. He is closer to the language of knowledge of the mysterious, deceptively brilliant, that which leads the Beauty to her Beast and leaves them alone in the citadel of the mirror.
In the chambers of castles, each room is like a cave with treasures. But all of them are not needed by the owner, just as he does not need power. The role of the servant is sweeter if it is close to the one that pays less attention to the wool every day. Once in the palaces, Belle comprehends the mystery of reincarnation: his and the Beasts. Any Cocteau movie is unthinkable without finding your true self in reflection. The perfect glass surface shows a probable life that can be changed by surrendering to knowledge. And the director has it scattered in parts. If the power of the beast was united in five objects, then the essence of the whole picture has two incarnations. From hostility to sympathies, from rudeness to tenderness, everyone has his own path, but both Beauty and the Beast must come to the same conclusion. Cocteau leads his heroes in roundabout ways and brings them together with the most obvious rivals. At some point, the girl is at the mercy of delusion and believes in the sincerity of sisterly love. And played by Jean Marais the Beast - descended from the back of the mirror, the double of Avenan, the sigher of Belle. It is clear that men always have two roads, and which way to go depends on the ability to hear the heart, not the mind. This rethinking of the fairy tale plot, with the introduction of Cocteau’s personal mythology, his search for the original essence of man, forever singled out the picture among the other adaptations of the classical plot.
The charm of magic is great, and the dazzling light of diamonds perfectly plays on the natural desire to touch the forbidden. The wealth of the Beast is nothing more than a symbol of false prosperity. Again, the author brings together beings from different worlds before the desire to possess something. Cocteau’s trick lies in his unwillingness to sacrifice external effects to content. The visual aesthetic of the picture is such that consciousness itself gives itself to temptation. Despite the terrible decoration of the castle, all these hands with candelabras, the soul of the guest resists the break of communication with him. What is it? Love itself for a long time appears only as an addition to external brilliance. Belle did not turn out unmercenary, she does not resist changing roles with the owner, and her reaction to the destruction of the spell confirms that even the most obvious plot can be an unsolved secret. But do you need to know everything when the voice of feeling sounds louder? A girl’s tears turn into diamonds, and that’s the price to pay for her ability to love. There is always another way, and Cocteau shows this by the example of the heroine’s greedy sisters and brother. The magic of the world is the magic of the world.
Time is rushing away. Only a step separates from the inevitability, but if the fate of a loved one is reflected in the mirror, then true love is the main miracle. The obsessive speeches of the Beast are imbued with childish sincerity, to which the director called in his address. The avant-garde left the opportunity to interpret the result of the picture in two ways, but for surrealism it is rather a necessity, which will find confirmation in Orpheus. Mirror worlds, a portal through gloves - bright and recognizable attributes of Jean Cocteau, the use of which in "Beauty and the Beast" justified the unexpected ending. In the enchanted forest, everything is not as it seemed at the first impression. There is a single constant – simple love, which reduces the most powerful charms. In the world of French genius, it is the largest diamond.
Turning at the very beginning of his film to the immediacy of children's perception, Jean Cocteau undoubtedly cunning, because his "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale is only half. Cocteau came to cinema from a literary background. Being primarily a poet, he settled in the frame Euterpa and Erato, and he became Orpheus of modern times. The cold aesthetics of the half-empty castle, a dark forest that bowed to the crowns - the world created by the director seemed to come down from ancient engravings and worn book illustrations. The dark magic of the European fairy tale is intertwined with the grandeur of French symbolism. Excessive scenery and demonstrative speech of the characters coexist with the simplicity of the plot. Not standing out among other feelings, tenderness in "Beauty" is barely aloof - Belle does not confess his love for the Beast, and he does not pretend to be a refined aristocrat, on the contrary, shamefully repents of his own meagerness. And at the same time, the film is full of shades of poetic feelings - enthusiasm, horror, devotion, envy. From the inevitable overcoming of contradictions, a union of two noble souls is slowly born. And the contrast between ordinary and romanticism is best seen in the opposition of the rural house of Belle and the mystical castle of the Beast, in which living statues act as servants, and the spaces of the rooms are deliberately huge.
According to contemporaries, the film was literally suffering in the conditions of post-war devastation, inhibited the filming process and Cocteau's disease. However, nothing gives difficulties - each frame is like a finished work, a compositionally verified picture. Limited in technical terms, Cocteau took every opportunity to give the film magic. Slow and reverse shooting, the play of light shade, “live” scenery, detailed makeup of the Beast – through simple solutions, the Frenchman achieved a stunning visual effect. In many ways contributed to the success of the tape and the main acting duo. Josette Day’s enthusiastic look, perhaps the most significant role of her life, may be how the director imagined an angel. And Jean Marais, Cocteau’s life partner, appears in three hypostases that never intersect, as if personifying different stages of the life of the same hero. No wonder the ending of the tape has no unambiguous interpretation - a film without a sorceress, but full of strange magic, he leaves behind not so few questions. But then the poetic beginnings of the director take precedence over rationalism – from the plane of symbolism, the film smoothly flows into the surreal depression, where it leaves the viewer, covering the story canvas over the starched and graceful threads.
Yesterday I saw this little masterpiece by Jean Cocteau and I can say with full confidence that I will review it more than once. I haven’t seen such fairy tales in a long time, where you watch actors with real greed. Yes, the actors coped with their roles on “great”, especially I want to mention Jean Mare, who, in truth, I did not pay much attention to before. He had to carry two completely different characters on his shoulders. I was struck by how well you can see his game even in the eyes under a 5-hour makeup, which, in fact, nothing can be seen. I really liked the beauty, that is how it should be: beautiful (of course), kind and pure soul. All costumes are charming. It is also worth noting the abundance of gems on the costumes that were necessary for Cocteau.
The music in this film is really mesmerizing, and it’s a pity (and maybe even better) that the film only lasts an hour and a half. I wanted more.
I think those who have not seen this film will be interested to know at least the end of this film (it is really interesting).
Bottom line: I highly recommend it to everyone, because we just forgot how to make films like that.