BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Theatrical Release France 2014)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.9|5.0 Starsììì

Beauty and the Beast—French-German live action remake, not to be confused with Disney’s Emily Watson live action remake—has European written all over it. This great live action interpretation of the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast uses a script that includes extra story information which enriches the trimmed down Disney version of this story. The movie requires careful watching due to its cryptic scripting. The movie’s point of view becomes a little unclear due to heavy use of metaphor which may not be familiar to a regular, theater-going audience. At times, it seems even the Director may not have a deep understanding of the real story lying underneath the basic story. This layering effect almost makes the movie un-relatable and easy to misunderstand. One of the best things that really works in this film is the beast’s makeup for Vincent Cassel. WOW! It’s beautifully done. Be aware that the film uses English voice-overs to translate its original language.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

A prince is cursed to be a monster until he can learn to love.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Director Christophe Gans for directing efforts. Thank you to Executive Producer Frederic Doniguian for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: La Bete/Le Prince (Vincent Cassel), Belle (Lea Seydoux), Le marchand (Andre Dussollier), Perducas (Eduardo Noriega), Astrid (Myriam Charleins), Anne (Audrey Lamy), Clotilde (Sara Giradeau), Jean-Baptiste (Jonathan Demurger), Maxime (Nicolas Gob), Tristan (Louka Meliava), La Princesse (Yvonne Catterfeld), Louis (Dejan Bucin), Thierry (Wolfgang Menardi), Etienne (Mickey Hardt), and Virgil (Arthur Doppler).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. An audience who chooses this film may feel that they are seeing the real story of Beauty and the Beast for the first time. The film cannot be faulted for its realism. It does need some brushing to make it more audience relatable and to reveal the deeper meaning behind some of the scenes. This could easily become a good intellectual watch due to heavy use of simile and imagery.

*Also known as: La Belle et la Bête

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers