Sunday 30 August 2015

La Belle et la Bête (1946 Jean Cocteau & scr)

Utterly wonderful. Arms holding candelabras surely influence on Polanski's Repulsion - scene where Josette Day runs through the hall and up the stairs in slow motion, then seems to float, incredible, as are many other distinctive Cocteau moments. Loved the faces in the decor. And her bedroom, which seems to open out into an enchanted forest. And things smoking, like the Beast, and even the Magnificent horse, at one point? Cocteau's partner Jean Marais really good and oddly touching as the Beast.

Classy collaborators too: Henri Alékan, Georges Auric, René Clement (uncredited co-director).

Nimble, sensuous, dazzling.

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