La Belle et la Bête

We've all heard or seen the classic fairy tale of "Beauty and the Beast" but it's probably fair to say that you've never seen a version as beautifully done as this 1978's Czech adaptation. Absurd you say? Like most people who grew up in the 90's, I was long under the impression that the only film version of "Beauty and the Beast" that counted was Disney's 1991 animated classic. But then I came across this version. Directed by Juraj Herz, it sets the tale in a gloomy world where we met a well to do merchant who's expecting a large shipment of priceless jewels, diamonds, the whole works. But unfortunately for him, they are stolen in route by the dreadful beast that haunts the black forest. Desperate to provide for his three daughters, he sets out to the beast's decrypted mansion to sell a priceless painting of his late wife. At first, everything goes well until he makes the mistake of plucking a rose from the beast's garden. Through some creative camera work, we don't see the beast right away but from the father's reaction know that he is hideous and angry . The beast tells him that if he wants to live, one of his daughters must come on her own free will to be with him forever. Julie, his kindest and most caring daughter, volunteers to sacrifice herself for her father despite not knowing the grisly details. When she first meets the beast, she only knows his voice since he only talks to her from behind. Yet, Julie can't help but feel something tug at her heart and what follows is one of the most dark and surreal love stories ever put to screen.

Let me just state that this is probably not the best version to show little kids due to the fact that it may give them nightmares! The director here was clearly going for a creepy and atmospheric take on the legend with the dark lighting, eerie shooting locations, and winding camera angles from the beast's point of view. In other words, it's what a fairy tale is supposed to be before Hollywood waters it down for kids. Also the music score, with its foreboding organ chimes, goes a long way to establishing suspense and apprehension as well as beauty when that organ switches to piano. As for the beast himself, he manages to be both strange and ugly with his bird/beast hybrid look (Considering the time and country it was made in, the costume and make up is fairly realistic). Since this beast is capable of using magic, he has his own goblin servants, including one who sits in chandelier that moves up and down when it's time to serve drinks. But the movie is more than just a horror picture; it's also a love story, one that is told well by its writing and actors. The filmmakers are able to present the beast as a complicated being who is torn between his new found love for Julie and his inner animal, which is presented in the form of a malicious whisper. Despite being under a lot of make up, Vlastimil Harapes is able to shine through and make you care about his plight. As for Julie, she could not be any more lovelier than in the form of Zdena Studenkova, who cuts a fine figure but more importantly, a beautiful personality for her character. Unlike her materialistic sisters, she has an innocent heart and truly cares for her father's well being, not just his money. But can Julie overcome the beast's hideous face and can the beast repress his animal instinct once and for all so they can live happily ever after? It all leads up to heartfelt conclusion that teaches us it's not what's outside that counts, but what is inside. Sadly (Maybe because it was made behind the iron curtain) the movie does not seem to be all that available. The only place I can recommend would be you tube. As far as finding a DVD, it appears to only be available in Europe. But the you tube version does have English subtitles and is in fair viewing condition. With that said, I urge you to check it out this beautifully dark version of the tale while you still can and remember that a woman makes a man she loves beautiful.

SBS-TV used to screen this film on an annual basis, but it has been missing in action for some years, which is cause for regret. The title may seem obscure, but a look at the alternative English translations ("Maiden and the Beast" and "Virgin and the Monster") should make this clearer. This is quite simply a wonderful interpretation of the classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, produced and filmed in the then Czechoslovakia. Cinematic gems can be found in what may be thought to be unlikely places, and this film is an example.

Students of cinema may be aware that Cocteau did a version of this story in B&W, and there is of course the more recent and rather tame Disney version. This film is a very different proposition. For a start, it is unsuitable for young children because of some fairly graphic violence, including scenes of animal cruelty. The film-makers seem to strive for realism, particularly the scenes in the village where Beauty (here called Julie) lives, all mud and images of earthy rural life before the Industrial Revolution. But even the magical bits are portrayed realistically. The Beast's castle is maintained by an array of goblin-like servants, who skulk in the shadows of the fireplaces and chandeliers. If I have one complaint about this film, it is that the scenes are sometimes so dark that it is difficult to see what's happening. This does heighten tension, but it can be overdone.

The actors are great, especially the two charismatic leads. The Beast (Vlastimil Harapes) is fashioned more as a great bird of prey than Cocteau's leonine creation, and there is great suspense as he struggles with his inner violent nature (a sinister whispering voice) that is urging him to remain in his beastly form and kill the innocent Julie. Julie (Zdena Studenková) in turn is wonderfully portrayed. We can see why she is so obviously her father's favourite.

Fairy tales are expositions of the human condition, and the Beauty and the Beast story is no different. "Every woman has the power the make the one she loves beautiful". It's a simple theme, but this film explores it beautifully. See it if you can.

This is such a strange film. Nominally a Beauty and the Beast rendition (the title translates to Virgin and the Monster), it is introspective wandering through dreams. It is both rich in what we see of dreams and silly. The filmmaker (Juraj Herz, also responsible for Cremator) juggles various moods, sombre elegy to medieval fairytale.

As you watch it, it may strike you as both obvious and muddled, obvious because its fantasy is of the schematic sort, with onedimensional characters like the 'kindly father', 'innocent maiden', 'petty step- sisters'. The monster looks silly. So it may seem like it's not worth the effort of bridging the distance to what is going on behind the simplistic surface.

However, scrap all that and this may get to you. It got to me, at least for a while. It isn't about just the Gothic mood. Its appeal is a series of interleavened dreams, but you aren't always sure who is dreaming, if sometimes more than one dreamer, and when one bleeds into the next, so you drift with it.

Consider this as the story. A rich merchant father has to marry off his daughter in a marriage of convenience, the anxiety this causes to both is at the root of the film. It isn't in the film as such, but you will get something of the sort if you conflate the different threads.

From the father's perspective, this means sending off his daughter to live with a 'monster' in his dark lair, from her perspective, it means going to live alone with a stranger, her fate sealed. This translates in several scenes of hallucination, all of it wonderfully visual—the ominous destruction of the merchant wares in the woods, the father's deal with the monster for the girl, the girl's gilded dream of a handsome prince (inside a coffin) and half-frightful, half-anticipatory wandering in the mansion hearing just his voice.

The plucking of roses as loss of purity is a central motif.

It's silly again as we shift to the monster's soliloquies of what it means to be human, but that is because we don't have a surrogate for him in the level of reality, he solely exists inside the fantasy as the abstract ogre made human by her touch. The Czech often favor a juvenile theatricality.

But there's something else that is cool. Now so far all points to constructed realities, dreams as tailored emotional space. The girl wonders if she's not imagining everything, in one scene she visits as ghostly observer her sisters' wedding, no one can see her.

Here's how the filmmaker adds layers to the monster. He has conflicting sides to him, two voices that ponder on whether to kill or spare the girl. The 'evil' voice is disembodied, in his mind. This 'evil' narrator is coming from the camera, you'll notice this is linked with subjective shots of the monster as it kills the wench in the woods, roams with a candelabra and early on 'stages' the frightful visit of the father. It's the filmmaker's hand (as internal consciousness shaping the story) pushing for horror, very cool to see.

So as with many films of this sort, the film becomes more disposable the more you settle on what the story is supposed to be. It fits somewhere between Lynch, Hourglass Sanatorium for nested doll-worlds, Jean Rollin's wandering and Valerie's Week of Wonders.

I listed the films (and makers) in descending order of preference, which for me is the order by which, as you peel away layers, you get less and less of what you thought is there, it opens up, instead of a single solid core. Angels dancing instead of a pin's head.

So if you want a cryptic story disguised to mean something, this is cryptic but as with Rollin and Valerie it makes rather simple sense. At the same time, it is dissonant enough once you disengage from story to captivate. I will see if I can track down more from this guy, he may deserve a place in my nightly viewings.

It's difficult to get past the opening scenes of close-ups of animal abuse, but at least that sets the tone for this very dark and murky adaption of the famous story. They say the acting life can be very glamorous - it certainly isn't the case here. No CGI safety-net, the performers attached to this story certainly seem to suffer for their art in a variety of uncomfortably cold situations.

It's good when horror films bring some new locations into their stories, but equally, it's always worth it to revisit the vast crumbling lairs of traditional settings, and that is done really effectively here; the story is given the most impressive horror treatment. Creatures hide in shadow - you only know they're there when you see a rolled eyeball or a moving, inhuman talon. There is enough of a fairytale quality to this to appeal to the inner child, and there are moments when the eyes will moisten! It's all accompanied by wonderful, sepulchral music, and directed like a hugely gothic TV film. My score is 8 out of 10.

I saw this film many years ago at Filmex in Los Angeles, and it left a strong impression. It is a truly beautiful version of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. It is a real shame that Herz's films are not available today, at least to US cinephiles.

I remember this film as having been done in a very naturalistic way, with (I think) no optical effects at all. The costumes were wonderful, as was the music and the acting. It seems to me there was a situation in which a woman's dress turned to mud (in a simple jump cut). The "Beast" is especially striking, with his bird-like plumage.

Anyone at Facets want to take this one on?