Synopsis
Cocteau addresses his version of Mme Le Prince de Beaumont's eighteenth-century fairy tale to "what remains of the child in all of us" and proceeds to take us into a realm of enchantment where nothing – not even the candelabra or the decorative carvings in the Beast's castle – is quite what it seems, where ugliness masks integrity and handsome faces conceal treachery.
Josette Day is luminous yet feisty as Beauty and
Jean Marais gives one of his best performances as the Beast, at once brutal and gentle, rapacious and vulnerable, shamed and repelled by his own bloodlust. Cinematography, lighting, costume and set designs combine to make
Beauty and the Beast a thrilling piece of cinema.
