003 - La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast), 1946, France; Dir. Jean Cocteau

003 - Tuesday, January 3, 2017

La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast), 1946, France.  Dir. Jean Cocteau.

Yesterday, I referred to Revanche in terms of "every frame a Vermeer."  Today we have a film where scenes were made that way on purpose.  They were intentionally dressed, set, and lit to evoke the paintings of Vermeer--Johannes (Jan) Vermeer, the Dutch master--as well as the engravings of Gustave Dore.

Jean Cocteau was 56 when he made Beauty and the Beast.  It was his FIRST feature film.

How old are you?

You are not too old.

His films would go on to influence Bergman, Truffaut, and del Toro in their look and style.

Who are they?

Ingmar Bergman - Swedish theatre director and filmmaker, one of the greatest and most prolific of all time
Francois Truffaut - French critic turned filmmaker, leading light of the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave)
Guillermo del Toro - Mexican filmmaker known for his brilliant creativity, working in fantasy, action, and horror

We will look at some of their movies later this year, and it will be exciting.

When Cocteau made Beauty and the Beast, he was not known as a filmmaker, as it was his first feature, but he was known as an artist.  He had produced paintings, drawings, poetry, plays, novels, memoirs, opera, and ballet.  This film shows the influence of his artistry.

The cinematography is rich.  He wanted to make it in color but did not have the money.  We are blessed for it, as it riveting in black and white.  The costumes are gorgeous.  We see this from the very opening scenes.  The leading players are beautiful--yet he toys with the idea of beauty and its power over us.  The forest is foreboding.  The castle is scary--and luring, and fabulous, and alive, and magical.

You want to look.

Cocteau brings counterpoint to his film in at least two ways:

One is that he worked to make the beginning scenes, the ones in town, the ones in reality, more mystical, and to make the later scenes, the ones in the castle, in the fairy tale, more realistic.  He lit it that way, he shot it that way, to change our assumptions, to bring the fairy tale back more closely to its original source, which was for him Madame de Beaumont in 1756.

The other is that he worked to make the beast more human and deep-hearted while making the handsome prince more shallow and dreary.  He reported that he received letters from women stating that they preferred the beast to the prince.  He felt that he had succeeded.

And on that point, Cocteau made a brilliant decision in casting.  He had one man, Jean Marais, play all three roles of The Beast, The Prince, and the forlorn suitor Avenant (the equivalent of what you may know as Gaston from the Disney cartoon).

Marais sat in the make-up chair five hours a day to transform into The Beast.  But he made smaller transformations in appearance from Avenant to The Prince.  Imagine Belle's finally getting The Prince in the end, and he so closely resembles the very man she has been resisting!

There is a legend that says when Greta Garbo saw the movie and The Beast was transformed into The Prince, she exclaimed, "Give me back my Beast!"

Look for the special effects in the castle.  Belle must pass through a hallway of candelabra, which are held to the wall by human hands, and which light automatically as she passes them.  When she passes through another hallway to the bedroom, great white billowing sheets flow in the wind as she floats magically across the floor.  Look for Diana's arrow and how it is used.  And of course, there is a magic mirror.

The opening credits are written and erased on a chalkboard.  We will see other movies this year where they play with the opening credits.  Then Cocteau slates the film with his slate, or clapper.  He shows us we are entering a film, a story, a fairy tale.  We are entering a secret room in a secret castle in a secret forest.

All Belle wanted was a rose.

Her desire launched her father, her family, and herself into near disaster.  Yet what came out of it was transformation.

The power of love to transform.

Every frame a Vermeer.

https://www.criterion.com/films/177-beauty-and-the-beast