For those who have seen the Disney’s Beauty and the Beast most of their ideas originated from this early version of the tale. The Disney animation follows the same basic outline as the 1940 tale however Disney makes some of their own adaptations. The leading lady (Belle) salves away making ends meet at home with her spoilt sisters (small story of Cinderella) because of her father’s misfortune at work. Avenant one of her brother Ludovic’s friend’s shows desires to marry Belle but her brother is very protective over her. Her Father ventures out in the wood one night and seeks refuge in a grand castle deep in the woods. When he leaves he picks a rose from the garden for Belle who wished him to get her one. The Beast then reveals himself as the owner of the castle and leaves him with an ultimation for penalty stealing the rose; his life or one of his daughters. Belle volunteers to go to the castle out of guilt of wanting the rose, waiting for her is a life of grandeur, fantasy and the Beast.
If you can’t bare subtitled films your eyes certainly won’t get bored. Inside the castle the film becomes a surreal fantasy of living furniture and magic mirrors. Cocteau beautifully exaggerates every scene with an artistic decadent backdrop. Even how the film has been shot he turns everything in to a piece of art of its own, however some of the scenes are overly dramatised, beautiful to watch but pointlessly drags out the films story telling.
The scene when Bell first enters the castle she is show taking a cautious stroll about stopping every 5 seconds to take in her surroundings. Artistically the flowing drapes and lighting from the windows makes the scene stunningly eerie with slow motion editing with gives it charm and grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment