La Belle et la bête is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire and death. The BFI proudly presents the original film version of this fairy-tale masterpiece in High Definition for the first time in the UK, released on Blu-ray on 6 August 2018.
Special features include a commentary by Sir Christopher Frayling, an animated short, documentaries, trailers and deleted scenes, along with an illustrated booklet.
Josette Day is luminous yet feisty as Beauty and Jean Marais gives one of his best performances as the Beast, at once brutal and gentle, rapacious and vulnerable, shamed and repelled by his own bloodlust.
Henri Alekan's cinematography combines with Christian Bérard's masterly costumes and set designs to create a magical piece of cinema: a children's tale refashioned as a stylised, highly sophisticated dream. See the trailer at the link.
