Beauty and the Beast (1946)

"Once upon a time..." A half-ruined merchant lives in the country with his son Ludovic and his three daughters... (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Jean Cocteau
Written By: Jean Cocteau, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Starring: Jean Cocteau, Jean Marais, Michel Auclair, Christian Marquand, Marcel André, Mila Parély, Nane Germon, Raoul Marco, Josette Day, Noël Blin, Gilles Watteaux
Genres: Romance, Drama, Fantasy
AKA: La Belle et la bête
Country: France, Luxembourg
Where to Stream
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Beauty and the Beast belongs to 85 collections
1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 234 stars)
2. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 167 stars)
3. IMDB Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 123 stars)
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5. Certified weird (collaborative: moderated by Dreamer - 47 stars)
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8. Jonathan Rosenbaum's Top 1000 Movies (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 38 stars)
9. Empire's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (public: Ross - 36 stars)
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11. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)
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20. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)
21. Cahiers du cinema's 100 Greatest Films (collaborative: moderated by CCLZA - 17 stars)
22. List: Empire's 100 Best Films of World Cinema (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 17 stars)
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54. IMDb Top of The 1940's (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 2 stars)
55. Mark Kermode: 50 films every film fan should watch (collaborative: moderated by MacSwell - 2 stars)
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Stars | User | Rating | |
6 | ![]() |
MartinTeller | 91 95th |
You don't often get a chance to see a film as dazzling and charming as this. You couldn't hope for a finer way to spend an hour and a half. Funny, delightful, well-paced, mysterious, beautiful, and with a pleasant dose of weirdness.
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4 | ![]() |
lex | 80 53rd |
The scenes in and around the castle are exceptionally imagined and prove what a pioneering fantasy film this is. However, the parts that didn't include the fascinating Beast and his magic territory felt bland, and maybe I was just tired but I thought the ending was extremely random and unsatisfying, but I guess it's to be expected from an old fairy tale. Certainly significant and creative but not without some aging issues.
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3 | ![]() |
Suture Self | 8 81st |
This film deserves a second watch. The ending becomes much more obvious when you understand it's not a happy one.
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3 | ![]() |
ribcage | 82 80th |
My words could never live up to Cocteau's imagery. The Beast's castle is a eerie, magical place that I can only describe as "cozily haunted". His world exists in a murky neverland, where people seem to glide and to speak louder than a whisper might break the spell and cause your doom. If you want a film that takes you someplace, here you go. Be transported.
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3 | ![]() |
lisa- | 1 1st |
a beast blackmails a woman with threats of her father's murder, which will occur unless she submits herself to eternal seclusion in his castle. we are supposed to look beyond his ugly exterior to the kindred heart within - naturally quite a difficult feat for those who think that odes to love beyond the flesh shouldn't involve rampant sexism. there's no excuse for adapting such misery without even a pinch of irony. basically an irredeemably stupid film which nonetheless has exquisite set design.
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2 | ![]() |
Magb | 95 94th |
A great story, excellently told.
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2 | aaaaaaarrggg | 100 97th |
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Exquisite French fantasy. Dreamily photographed in settings that seem literally to be alive (and were modeled on the drawings of Gustave Dore), this film's spell is so expertly woven that you hardly even notice that the actors aren't speaking English. None of the remakes have the ability to capture the imagination and feel of a fairy tale brought to life as does this definitive version.
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2 | damil | 75 81st |
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I grew up with Disney's Beauty and the Beast. These two films have a lot of similarities, but are also quite different. This version also actually has living objects though they're not nearly as flamboyant as in the Disney version. While seeming a little silly at points, it can be quite dark and almost gothic. I was very impressed with the effects, both visual/camera and physical. It had a few scenes that went on a little too long, but overall, I thought it was great.
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2 | ![]() |
KramYessev | 75 72nd |
Everything set in and around Beast's castle is fantastic. The tracking shot upon first entering the castle is a thing of sublime beauty. Beast himself, despite looking distractingly like a well dressed version of the Cowardly Lion, is also pretty great. The rest of the film? Eh, it's okay. Incredible to look at but not much else.
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2 | ![]() |
dardan | 90 94th |
Aristotelean exploration of the beast within man, power, freedom, innocence, incontinence and happiness. Sin turned man into a beast and has corrupted his soul into a state of constant conflict between the beauty and the beast. Everyone extorts each other and sells each other out. Avenant doesn't want to 'rescue' Belle for Belle, but he wants so rescue her so that he can have her. Others want wealth and the father his life. Thematically and structurally very similar to Viridiana.
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1 | ![]() |
willofgaia | 98 95th |
With the exception of the last few minutes, which could use some tweaking, a near flawless film.
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1 | oolookitty | 100 98th |
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One of the most impeccably beautiful films ever made.
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purgatos | 93 94th |
A wonderfully told, splendidly shot little fairy tale.
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Tds4a | 3 80th |
Myyyy myyyy... you can't say no to the beauty and the beast, daaaaaaarliiiing
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leokitty | 90 90th |
Jean Cocteau wants you to believe in fairy tales again and presents a good argument in his favor.
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Average Percentile 71.9% from 1192 Ratings | ![]() |