Love can make an ugly man beautiful. Love can turn a man into a beast.
No 292 - La Belle et La Bete Director - Jean Cocteau The arty farty part of me has wanted to see this film for a very long time, something which was reinforced when I found out that it used to scare my mum as a child. So, through the awesome power of LOVEFiLM (really appreciating this system) I was able to get it through my door. The whole film is very strange and ethereal, looking back at my last review (Russian Ark) it once again echoes the dream like state. I think that one of the main reasons for this state comes through the movement of the two main characters. Belle and La Bete both move in a very stylised theatrical manner. At first, I thought it may be because the film is still in the early days of transition between silent (which was much more theatrical) and talkies. However, 20 years is not 'early days' in cinematic terms, and the fact that Belle's family move in a natural manner makes me think this was deliberate. This would certainly connect to the fact that...