La Belle at La Bete 1946 Film Review Set Design

This French romantic fantasy was directed by Jean Cocteau, and is an adaption of a traditional fairytale. The story is highly recognised for the Disney adaptation, but this french film has been created in black and white, and features no animation. Studied or not for philosophy, this is a sensuously fascinating film, a fanciful poem in movement given full articulation on the screen. Bosley Crowther- New York Times 2003 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1001902beauty_and_the_beast/reviews/?type=top_critics

The set for this film was designed and created by artist Christian Berard. The image to the left shows the sketches drawn by him, and used for scenes in the film. Below is a quote by Jean Cocteau talking about working Berard, on the film. Christian Brard was my right hand. Since he was left-handed, I had a special, clever, gracious, light right hand: a magical hand.You may imagine the emptiness left by an artist who guessed all, and with the dilligence of an archeologist, conjured up naked beauty from the thin air where she resides. Jean Cocteau- http://venetianred.net/2010/01/12/christianberard-painter-designer-illustrator/

One element of the set which really stood out, was the use of actors arms to hold the candles on the wall, giving the space a somewhat living quality. This is what influenced the disney adaption, in which anthropomorphic objects were created. By doing this it achieves a sense of magic and wonder commonly associated with fantasy films

Fig 1: Google Images- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/beauty_and_the_Beast_(1946_lm) Fig 2: Google Images- http://venetianred.net/2010/01/12/christian-berard-painter-designer-illustrator/ Fig 3: Google Images Fig 4: Google Images-http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/screenshots/beauty_and_the_beast