La Belle et la bête

Dir. Jean Cocteau

France 1946 | Black & white | 93 mins | Cert PG

Cast: Jean Marais, Josette Day

Cocteau takes us into a realm of enchantment where nothing – not even the candelabra or the decorative carvings in the Beast’s castle – is quite what it seems, where ugliness masks integrity and handsome faces conceal treachery. Belle is feisty and the Beast is at once brutal and gentle, rapacious and vulnerable, shamed and repelled by his own bloodlust.

Available on: DVD