Le Belle et La Bete (1946) Review

Fig 1. Le Belle et La Bete (1946) Poster

Introduction

Jean Cocteau’s Le Belle et la Bete (1946) is regarded as a pivotal development in French Cinema. It is
also considered by some as a highly influential piece of media that would later inspire other films such
as Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991) and (2017). This review will analyse how the film represents
certain groups of people and the historical-social context behind those representations. The sources I
have precluded for this examination include the books Women and men in Cinema (2015), John
Cocteau and his World (1987) by Arthur King Peters and blog posts from the internet.

Within the film the character of Belle appears to be a possible transgressive representation of a female
character. She is the first to act whenever a dilemma is in her way and when the Beast/Prince Ardent
asks for her hand in marriage she initially refuses believing that they are not ready yet despite the
allure of wealth and power. In terms of Vladimir Propp’s character archetypes she is ultimately the
hero of the story, she often takes affirmative action throughout the film and aids others. This is
especially true when she goes to take care of her ill father and tries to help the Beast in his dire state.
The role of the Hero during the period of which the film came out when heroism was often associated
with more masculine aspects, especially during and after World War II. In contrast the Beast appears
more as the Princess with him being the one who is in danger at the film’s climax. Belle has to some
degree a choice in the matter of who is more important to her. According to the book “La Belle et la
Bête “is a story of a young woman’s initiation into sexual womanhood by turning away from the sterile,
taboo relationship with her father and accepting the reality of man as both romantic lover and sexual
husband.” (Hamburger, 2015).
Fig 2. Still from the film – Belle and Beast

The film appears to demonstrate authenticating a highly surreal yet believable world. Cocteau’s
fantastical style of moving arms holding candelabras and statues that gaze and move and living suits
of armour makes the audience at first very estranged and unsettled. The Beast’s world is one
seemingly enchanted splendour and peculiar miracles. The audience, like Bell, is at first tentative to
this strange location but grows accustomed to it; like how she grows fond of Beast. Arthur King Peter
argues in his book Jean Cocteau and His World (1987) “in Le Belle Et La Bete Cocteau returned to his
familiar stand, showing how hard it is to distinguish reality from fantasy” (Peters, 1987). Evidence for
this is when the Beast becomes human it comes almost at a shock – the audience questions whether
the magic is or has ended. This is further evidenced by Belle’s line “where is my beautiful beast?” Even
the more slipshod aspects of the film such as the Beasts at times squeaky voice and Belle and him
jumping into the sky come across as natural to this extraordinary realm not out of place.

Fig 3. Still from the film showing Belles father and the candelabras

Upon further examination it appears that Jean Cocteau has introduced queer coding into the with
characters of Avenant and Ludovic. This could be Cocteau introducing context into his narrative for
how love is blind and that films overall message (as well as that of the book) of inner beauty. For
context, the film came out in 1946, after world war 2 and the holocaust of which homosexuals were a
victim of. Cocteau himself was homosexual and cast his own lover Jean Marais in the role off Avenant.
According to Lisa Thatcher on her blog “One of the reasons for bringing Avenant into the film is the
homoerotic relationship displayed between he and Beauty’s brother who objects strongly to the
couple marrying, because he thinks Avenant is good for him but not good enough for Beauty”
(Thatcher, 2013). This claim reinforced by the amount of screen time we see them in compared to
when we see Avenant and Belle together.
Fig 4. Jean Cocteau

Conclusion

Jean Cocteau’s Le Bell a Le Bete (1946) is a film that draws on many aspects of human sexuality and
attractiveness and questions the societal norms of the period it produced in. Belle is represented as a
much more independent female character as the protagonist of the film, a rarity at the time. The
special effects help create a strange and otherworldly atmosphere that create a strange but believable
world. The queer coding in the film also makes the supporting characters Ludovic and Avenant more
elaborate and complex rather than flat.

Bibliography
Hamburger, A. (2015). Women and Men in images of Cinema. rochester: Routledge.

Peters, A. K. (1987). Jean Cocteau and His World. Rochester: Thames and Hudson Ltd .

Thatcher, L. (2013, March 4). LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE – JEAN COCTEAU RE-IMAGINES FAIRYTALES. (FILM
REVIEW). Retrieved from Lisa Thatcher: https://lisathatcher.com/2013/03/04/la-belle-et-la-bete-
jean-cocteau-re-imagines-fairytales-film-review/

Illustration List

Fig 1. Film Poster for Le Bell Et la Bete

From: Imdb

Year: 2018

Url: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038348/

Fig 2. Beauty and Beast

From: Bright Lights Film journal

Year: 2017
Url: https://brightlightsfilm.com/wp-content/cache/all/watch-la-belle-et-la-bete-france-jean-
cocteau-1946/#.W8j7jtNKjIU

Fig 3. Still from Le Belle et La Bete

From: Lisa Thatcher

Year: 2013

Url: https://lisathatcher.com/2013/03/04/la-belle-et-la-bete-jean-cocteau-re-imagines-fairytales-
film-review/

Fig 4. Jean Cocteau

From: wikipedia

Year: 2018

Url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau