Genre:
Fantasy
Release Date: 09/09/2008
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: French
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 93 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Criterion
Jean Cocteau's adaptation of
Beauty and the Beast (originally released in France as
La Belle et la Bête) stars
Josette Day as
Beauty and
Jean Marais as
the Beast. When a merchant (
Marcel André) is told that he must die for picking a rose from
the Beast's garden, his courageous daughter (
Day) offers to go back to
the Beast in her father's place.
The Beast falls in love with her and proposes marriage on a nightly basis; she refuses, having pledged her troth to a handsome prince (also played by
Marais). Eventually, however, she is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating
Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. The film features a musical score by
Georges Auric.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide