La Belle et La Bete (1946): Jean Cocteau’s Cinematic Fairytale

by Paul Batters

“Mon cœur te choisit. Sans toi, je n’existe pas.” – Belle (Josette Day)

(My heart has chosen you. Without you, I do not exist).

The beautiful story of ‘the beauty and the beast’ is one not unfamiliar to modern audiences. Younger generations will be familiar with the tale from the Disney animation production, as well as more recent versions which have told the story as a musical. Despite lavish production and box office clout, they pale in comparison to the 1946 film created by the brilliant Jean Cocteau. As a masterpiece of French cinema, La Belle et La Bete deserves respect for its innovative cinematography, brilliant set design, and strong emphasis on symbolism and surrealism. It’s a cinematic piece of poetry, with layered meaning and thematic concerns, that transcends time and stands as a legacy for those who love fantasy film.

La Belle et La Bette explores the transformative power of love and compassion, as well as the theme of inner beauty. Yet there are some other fascinating and more complex themes that the film conveys as well, and this article seeks to consider those and discuss them a little further.

The fairy tale tells of Belle (Josette Day), a young woman who sacrifices herself in place of her father who has found himself in an incredible predicament. Finding himself in the grounds of an enchanted castle, he takes a rose from the garden for his daughter. However, the master of the castle, the Beast (Jean Marais) appears and threatens him with death for plucking the rose. Imploring the Beast to let him go, he promises one of his daughters to the Beast in place of himself. The Beast agrees and Belle is sent to the castle. Though amazed at the magic she encounters, she faints in horror at the first sight of the Beast. His monstrous appearance is too much to bear but as time goes on those feelings will change. Belle’s initial terror and even disgust will be shed as she looks beyond his bestial appearance and finds the heart and soul that lie within the Beast. Thus, Cocteau seeks to examine the power of relationships and perhaps how there is hope for humanity if we can look beyond the superficial and truly find our own and each other’s humanity beyond the value of appearance.

The Beast is certainly a classic trope in the traditional fairy tale and Cocteau uses this to address the power of transformation through love and compassion. Underneath his terror-inspiring and monstrous appearance lies a gentle and kind spirit, and a cursed soul as the audience will discover. The curse of loneliness, of course, is upon him as well. Forced to live in solitude, the Beast is without even the most basic interactions of the most superficial relationship. He is too terrifying to look upon. Yet Cocteau also wants the audience to see the vulnerability of the Beast; for despite the fear and terror that he inspires, the Beast is desperate for love and acceptance. His power, both in the physical and in his enchantment of his environment both become meaningless in the face of losing his Belle, and the pain that he feels cripples him beyond measure.

Likewise, Belle is also transformed through love and compassion. Seeing beyond the Beast’s terrible appearance and fearful demeanour, she sees the very heart of his desperate desire to love and be loved. An underlying subplot is her love for her father and Belle’s willingness to sacrifice herself to save his life. In that context, Belle is also willing to stay with the Beast which means giving up the life she has known. Of course, the classic theme of inner versus outer beauty is ever-present and the journey to discovering which is the most important and lasting, is fundamental to Belle’s journey. Of course, Belle is more than a beautiful young woman on the outside, with a deep inner kindness and goodness that the Beast recognises. This reviewer would suggest that it is this characteristic of Belle that the Beast actually falls in love with, and certainly Cocteau spoke of this being the deeper meaning behind the story, stating that “I understood that ‘La Belle et la Bête’ was the story of the real love that transcends appearances.”

Furthermore, Belle’s willingness to sacrifice her own freedom for her father reflects the theme of selflessness and familial love. This act of sacrifice sets in motion the events that lead to the Beast’s redemption. Similarly, the Beast’s transformation from a cruel and selfish creature into a compassionate prince is brought about by Belle’s love and sacrifice. Indeed, love serves as a catalyst for transformation in the film. Belle’s love for the Beast is what ultimately breaks the curse and transforms him back into a human prince. Thus, Cocteau’s interpretation emphasizes the idea that love has the capacity to bring about positive change and redemption. Cocteau would state that ‘ love is born from sacrifice, and that is the basis of the human condition” and this is undoubtedly interwoven into the text of the film.

Additionally, Cocteau examines the need for forgiveness and compassion as crucial facets to the power and existence of love. This does include only forgiveness and compassion for others but the importance of being able to do for one’s self. The Beast learns to let go of his past mistakes and insecurities, embracing his true identity and capacity for love. He is able to do so because of Belle’s compassion and empathy towards him, but this is also true of his own ability to accept it himself. An acknowledgement of the heart finds the Beast finally transforming his own sense of self as well, declaring “It is the heart that sees clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Whilst this of course highlights the film’s theme of the inner self being far more important than outer appearances, it also amplifies the sense of revelation that the Beast feels. For it is love that casts out the darkness, and frees the Beast from the evil spell cast on him.

Cocteau, as film historian Sylvia Bryant pointed out, took the classic fairy tale narrative form and brought into a cinematic text keeping place the codified fairy tale characterisation. Perhaps it is the incredible talents which Cocteau possessed that allowed this to be done successfully. The audience finds itself in a dream-like fantasy world, with an atmosphere which is incredibly surreal punctuated by the reality of the emotions experienced by the key characters. Film Quarterly suggested that Cocteau’s work ‘transcends the confines of the fairy tale genre, offering a profound meditation on love, sacrifice, and the transformative power of redemption’. The other-worldly atmosphere and magic of the world in which the Beast, however, cannot conceal or dampen the pain and anguish that he feels. Nor is the love that he has in his heart able to be extinguished. Indeed, it heightens that very pain. Yet both he and Belle need to traverse through this pain and emerge free from their bounds, transformed by the very emotion which also fed their anxieties. The need to be vulnerable, as both Belle and the Beast make themselves, is thus fundamental to this transformation.

There is an ethereal and ever-present magic to Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bete. He said that he wanted to make something beautiful – and he succeeded.

Paul Batters teaches secondary school History in the Illawarra region and also lectures at the University Of Wollongong. In a previous life, he was involved in community radio and independent publications. Looking to a career in writing, Paul also has a passion for film history.