Beauty and the Beast

Nicole Gonzalez, 12/10/11, Beauty and the Beast, 1 hour and 33 minutes, 1946, Directed by Jean Cocteau

Awards :
(1946) won the PRix Louis Delluc Award Jean Cocteau Beauty and the Beast


The film theory that I would use is Auteur because Cocteau uses the film to tell the story about a young girl risking her life to save her father's for breaking into the beast's house. Audience routes for the main protagonist, Belle, because she has two harsh sisters and wishes to be far away with the one she loves. When she is forced to stay with the Beast, Belle learns to love and the Beast magically turns into a Prince, who looks like the The Usurer that ws trying to win her love.


In one review, Ebert states that the movie itself is an adaptation of the French tale and not to be meant as a children's tale (Ebert, 1). The reason Ebert puts the disclaimer is because of the black and white cinematography along with the french subtitles. Windling goes through a whole critique on all of the other versions of the story along with the critique of the film. Cocteau uses mythical art and black and white cinematography to tell the story of the classic French tale (Windling, 1).


In Cocteau's film, there are some comparisons between the Disney's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. When Belle and the Beast walk down the stairs outside of the mansion is simular to the scene for the musical number, "Beauty and the Beast," for the Disney version. The dinner scenes of how the table and seating are arranged is also simular because both show the two characters sit across from one another and the whole elaborat decorations for the dinner arrangements.


I was trying to find the Cocteau's film out of my curiousity. From what I could gather is a ballet-like setting, but has inspired to the Disney cartoon movie I remember as a child. Jean Cocteau knows how to use the element of magic and help inspire the Walt Disney production to retell the story and to hold on to the enchantment that is Beauty and the Beast.


Work Cited

Ebert, Roger. "Beauty and the Beast ." rodgerebert.com. N.p., 27 Dec. 1999. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. 

     http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19991226/REVIEWS08/912260301/1023.

Windling, Terri. Beauty and the Beast . N.p., 2007. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. 

     <http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forbewty.html>.