LA BELLE ET LA BÉTE (Beauty and the Beast, 1946) *** It's only a fairy tale, but indulge me Jean Cocteau warns, more than urges, in the opening credits section. He's a genius in the milieu of black and white and gray and shadow, the sets are gorgeous, the dialogue appears simplistic at first. Of course much of the fun in watching a Cocteau piece is the search for esoteric subtexts; or more properly subterranean texts that render objective analysis a mere subtext. I was unrewarded in this regard for the first half of the film, other than lots of magic, the hands of invisible forces, and doors that open mysteriously under the proper circumstances; but as the surface plot builds towards its climax the submerged metaphors of roses, beasts, beauties, keys, a temple of Diana, and the dangers for the disrespectful are raised to levels accessible to the uninitiated. As the beast Jean Marais sounds like a Tom Waits/Dr. John hybrid, hey maybe those guys really could tell significant parts of the future...Tom Waits with Cocteau costume and lyrics, and Dr. John piano and production, boggles the mind.
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