This movie was made in postwar France with basically no budget, yet it had an enormous impact. You can see its influence in Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast, especially in the beast's makeup. And, of course, Andrew Lloyd Webber got the idea of the torches held by human hands from this movie. Jean Marais went on to become a major actor in French cinema, often playing swashbuckling roles (He was an excellent swordsman). Many years later, it would come out that he and Cocteau were lovers.
One of the things I like about this film is this magical castle in the woods with living furniture is frightening, rather than whimsical. There's also something astonishing that something this beautiful was made right after the end of the Second World War.
You'll probably talk about this at the end but Jean Marais played both the Beast and Avenant (who seems to have been an inspiration for the Disney version Gaston). I watched this on PBS at under the age of ten, with my parents, and instantly fell in love. Like many others, I wanted the Beast back after the transformation. Also, the French in this movie is so clearly and gently spoken that, when I was learning the language at college, this was an amazing help. Jean Marais was in several Jean Cocteau movies. This movie was made at the very end of WWII, and resources were scarce. The result shows how invested Cocteau was to his vision and his desire to tell this story.
I am so happy to hear this because a.) I was JUST wondering what the age is I could show this to a kid. I saw it young, but I can't remember how young. And b.) I was wondering about the French being a help to a person learning the language! See how you help me? lol. I never get over this movie.
Jean Marais also played a double role in Fantomas (1964). He played the hero Fandor and the villain Fantomas but I always forget he played both characters while watching the film because he's such a great actor
@@headofcosmospictures1232 He truly is, though I've only ever seen him in "Belle et la Bete", "Orfee", and " L'Éternel retour", and that one so long ago that I barely remember it.
Wow! I can’t believe you choose this film! I taught this film in a French class. The earlier tale in about a girl growing up. She loves her father and say “I want to remain a maiden and live with my father”. This is not possible and she must live with the beast. At first she is repulsed but then sees his true form. There is a change from family love to romantic love. Once this is complete, she is grown and can form her new family. Imagine that you are a young maiden and you marriage is announced to the world. You haven’t met the groom and you are forced from your family to live with a stranger. It was an important story to reassure the innocent girl. The director is Jean Cocteau. He made the film as a gift to the French people after WWII. It was very difficult to make with everything in short supply. The story is both an authentic fairytale and an autobiography of Cocteau. Cocteau was a homosexual and was in love with Jean Marais (he stars in several Cocteau films). There are some subtle signs of this. Cocteau was also a WWI veteran. He was in a ambulance company and was sent to another part of the front line, when he returned, the rest of his company was killed with poison gas,smoking around the bodies. When the Beast is homicidal, the smoke appears. I love this film. It is a part of French culture, to be sure. Cocteau was also a poet and a visual artist. His drawings are beautiful and worth lots of money. Thank you for selecting this remarkable film!
4:19 - Alexa, we said, "Why thank you, Thing" at the same time. I remember hearing of this film during my youth. I've always thought The Beast in this film version reminded me of a werewolf or an oversized Maine Coon cat. Ha! Thank you, Alexa, for this review of a remarkable French film. Peace be your journey -- W
thanks for your thoughtful reaction.i first saw this magnificent film as a child on public television back in the 70s, and instantly fell in love with cocteau's marvelous storytelling and simple yet ingenious practical effects. as an adult, one comes to appreciate the multiple layers of meaning while never losing that sense of wonder at what cocteau was able to achieve in what were still very straitened circumstances in post-war france. a special shout out too for christian berard's brilliant production design, inspired in many instances by gustave dore's famous fairy tale illustrations,: henri alekan's superb cinematography; and george auric's beautiful and atmospheric score, especially with its extensive use of wordless choir, reminiscent of and probably in hommage to maurice ravel's ballet "daphnis er chloe." you might also enjoy cocteau's wonderful retelling of the orpheus legend in his equally brilliant and enigmatic "orphee" (1950).
Thank you so much for reacting to this film. It's one of my absolute favorites. I first watched it on PBS in 1977 or 1978 and instantly fell in love with it and the music by Georges Auric, who also composed the music for Roman Holiday (1953), is magnificent. There are 2 DVDs available from the Criterion Collection. Each one has a different opening credit sequence. Cocteau had a lot of problems with the production, because it was so close to the end of WW2. It's a beautiful film!!
You mention an old fairy tale of three daughters, which reminded me of hearing this at no age - where the third daughter asked for salt. A request derided by her siblings, until later the kingdom ran out of it and subsequently all the food tasted awful. I forget how the story ended, but it impressed on me because this request had ultimately proven the best (despite earlier, superficial opinion).
I love this version! It has been a few years since I saw it and there are a few things in the version you watched that I do not remember... Maybe you have a more complete version than I do. Time to do some searching!
I am happy to see a young person appreciating this true masterpiece. I had a hard time explaining to my American friends that all other versions are entertainment and this is art. They had a tendency to put everything on the same level but you can't compare the Pietà to Bob's Big Boy. You not only caught all the subtelties, you got to the very core of it and then mentioned a fairy tale my mother told me when I was four, with the good sister words turning into pearls. On a lighter note a French friend who knew this movie all his life and also the Cocteau/Marais affair, when I told him how poetic the tears to diamonds scene was he said: "Oh yes it is, and also very gay" For another extreme example if you can find the 1968 Euro Odyssey film you will notice how Troy and the TV Odyssey rank below a Xena episode. The second even left out the reunion with the faithful dog Argo.Homer is the seed of all western literature, not a looney tune.Thanks again for a breath of fresh air in a medium where some put Chaplin and Keaton on a par with the 3 stooges. I know it's a matter of taste: either you have it or you don't.
Cool to see you check out this ole gem. I was lucky to see it in a cinema, the large screen helps with all the velvet-like greys in between the blacks and whites. There was a french production done in 2014, starring Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux. It was..., mmmm... so so, lol, lavish... but a bit empty. Cocteau somehow knocks it out of the park and makes it look effortless.
I almost got chills watching you pronounce this as....well, no spoilers. What an ending to a beautiful, fascinating reaction in which I certainly learned a lot! That was not on my bingo card, as they say! I'm sure you know by now, but this was filmed during German occupation. I've seen this movie countless times.....and yet every time I see it, it is somehow even BETTER than my memory of it! There's no such thing as a best ever, but if I'm asked what my favorite movies are this is always one of the handful of movies I automatically cite (American Graffiti, Paper Moon and Carnal Knowledge are three others, and then I'll throw in the collected works of various directors). Wow, what a month of reactions for this channel! This was the peak of the month, at least for me! But the good news is there's still dessert! Almost Famous! Interested to see your reaction to it, to be honest, I have no idea if you're going to like it or not! (I like it, not my fave ever, definitely not for representing that era, "Dazed And Confused" is unsurpassed in that area, but I do enjoy it.) Ok, enough from me. Congratulations (AND THANK YOU, ALEXA!) for crossing this one off your list.....and sharing it with all of us! All I can say is......what a movie. Whew!
Ah Beauty and the Beast. The French novel about a reclusive deformed man falling in love with a beautiful woman. Not to be confused with the hunchback of Notre Dame. The French novel about a reclusive deformed man falling in love with a beautiful woman. Also not the Phantom of the opera The French novel about a reclusive deformed man falling in love with a beautiful woman.
I'd argue those three stories also cover the likely results of that sort of thing. The Beast is transformed through love and they remain together, Quasimodo doesn't get with Esmeralda (there's so many different endings to adaptions of that one, but in the book he breaks into the charnel house to die next to her body) and Eric is profoundly evil so Christine rejects him.
@@JohnWilliamNowak the best Beauty and the Beast is still the '90s TV series starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Even though it has the least to do with the actual novel.
Another TV show you might want to someday react to is "Beauty and the Beast" 1987-1990 TV series. It's more of a romantic detective story, think of it as if Barbara Gordon and Batman were working together, and Batman was a Beast and lived under the city like in 'Phantom of the Opera' type tunnels. Instead of Barbara, the main character is a lawyer, and her goals to help people in need.
I adore this movie, I happened to first see it both before and then after my single French class in college. I was amazed by how much of the French I completely understood after that one 6-week class. More astonishing, I remember some of the lines in French to this day, most especially "𝑽𝒂 𝒐ù 𝒋𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆, 𝒗𝒂 𝒗𝒂 𝒗𝒂!". Wonderful; thank you.
Interesting that Jean Marais who played the Beast who is love with Belle was Gay and the lover of Cocteau who made the film. This film never loses it's charm, magic, or wit.
Oh my. One of the greats. Some I recommend if you haven't seen them: House of Wax, Abominable Dr. Prices, Theatre of Blood, Laura, Pit and the Pendulum, And Masque of the Red Death to name a few.
![Movie MAGIC | First Time Watching Jacques Demy's Peau d'âne [Donkey Skin]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xis6MQ0dWLw/mqdefault.jpg)
This movie was made in postwar France with basically no budget, yet it had an enormous impact. You can see its influence in Disney's version of Beauty and the Beast, especially in the beast's makeup. And, of course, Andrew Lloyd Webber got the idea of the torches held by human hands from this movie.
Jean Marais went on to become a major actor in French cinema, often playing swashbuckling roles (He was an excellent swordsman). Many years later, it would come out that he and Cocteau were lovers.
Avenant is also quite obviously a precursor to Gaston.
One of the things I like about this film is this magical castle in the woods with living furniture is frightening, rather than whimsical. There's also something astonishing that something this beautiful was made right after the end of the Second World War.
"Panna a Netvor" is a interesting version of this tale.
You'll probably talk about this at the end but Jean Marais played both the Beast and Avenant (who seems to have been an inspiration for the Disney version Gaston).
I watched this on PBS at under the age of ten, with my parents, and instantly fell in love. Like many others, I wanted the Beast back after the transformation. Also, the French in this movie is so clearly and gently spoken that, when I was learning the language at college, this was an amazing help. Jean Marais was in several Jean Cocteau movies.
This movie was made at the very end of WWII, and resources were scarce. The result shows how invested Cocteau was to his vision and his desire to tell this story.
I am so happy to hear this because a.) I was JUST wondering what the age is I could show this to a kid. I saw it young, but I can't remember how young. And b.) I was wondering about the French being a help to a person learning the language! See how you help me? lol. I never get over this movie.
@@TTM9691 Always glad to be of service!!!
Jean Marais also played a double role in Fantomas (1964). He played the hero Fandor and the villain Fantomas but I always forget he played both characters while watching the film because he's such a great actor
@@headofcosmospictures1232 He truly is, though I've only ever seen him in "Belle et la Bete", "Orfee", and " L'Éternel retour", and that one so long ago that I barely remember it.
Wow! I can’t believe you choose this film! I taught this film in a French class. The earlier tale in about a girl growing up. She loves her father and say “I want to remain a maiden and live with my father”. This is not possible and she must live with the beast. At first she is repulsed but then sees his true form. There is a change from family love to romantic love. Once this is complete, she is grown and can form her new family. Imagine that you are a young maiden and you marriage is announced to the world. You haven’t met the groom and you are forced from your family to live with a stranger. It was an important story to reassure the innocent girl. The director is Jean Cocteau. He made the film as a gift to the French people after WWII. It was very difficult to make with everything in short supply. The story is both an authentic fairytale and an autobiography of Cocteau. Cocteau was a homosexual and was in love with Jean Marais (he stars in several Cocteau films). There are some subtle signs of this. Cocteau was also a WWI veteran. He was in a ambulance company and was sent to another part of the front line, when he returned, the rest of his company was killed with poison gas,smoking around the bodies. When the Beast is homicidal, the smoke appears. I love this film. It is a part of French culture, to be sure. Cocteau was also a poet and a visual artist. His drawings are beautiful and worth lots of money. Thank you for selecting this remarkable film!
4:19 - Alexa, we said, "Why thank you, Thing" at the same time. I remember hearing of this film during my youth. I've always thought The Beast in this film version reminded me of a werewolf or an oversized Maine Coon cat. Ha! Thank you, Alexa, for this review of a remarkable French film. Peace be your journey -- W
thanks for your thoughtful reaction.i first saw this magnificent film as a child on public television back in the 70s, and instantly fell in love with cocteau's marvelous storytelling and simple yet ingenious practical effects. as an adult, one comes to appreciate the multiple layers of meaning while never losing that sense of wonder at what cocteau was able to achieve in what were still very straitened circumstances in post-war france. a special shout out too for christian berard's brilliant production design, inspired in many instances by gustave dore's famous fairy tale illustrations,: henri alekan's superb cinematography; and george auric's beautiful and atmospheric score, especially with its extensive use of wordless choir, reminiscent of and probably in hommage to maurice ravel's ballet "daphnis er chloe." you might also enjoy cocteau's wonderful retelling of the orpheus legend in his equally brilliant and enigmatic "orphee" (1950).
Thank you so much for reacting to this film. It's one of my absolute favorites. I first watched it on PBS in 1977 or 1978 and instantly fell in love with it and the music by Georges Auric, who also composed the music for Roman Holiday (1953), is magnificent. There are 2 DVDs available from the Criterion Collection. Each one has a different opening credit sequence. Cocteau had a lot of problems with the production, because it was so close to the end of WW2. It's a beautiful film!!
You can see how the Disney team was greatly inspired by this film.
4:53 "I don't like compliments either" Then boy have I been screwing up!! (Eyes dart back and forth nervously)
You mention an old fairy tale of three daughters, which reminded me of hearing this at no age - where the third daughter asked for salt. A request derided by her siblings, until later the kingdom ran out of it and subsequently all the food tasted awful. I forget how the story ended, but it impressed on me because this request had ultimately proven the best (despite earlier, superficial opinion).
I love this version! It has been a few years since I saw it and there are a few things in the version you watched that I do not remember... Maybe you have a more complete version than I do.
Time to do some searching!
There are two versions available from the Criterion Collection, with different opening credit sequences.
I am happy to see a young person appreciating this true
masterpiece. I had a hard time
explaining to my American friends that all other versions
are entertainment and this is art. They had a tendency to put
everything on the same level but you can't compare the Pietà to Bob's Big Boy. You not
only caught all the subtelties,
you got to the very core of it
and then mentioned a fairy tale
my mother told me when I was
four, with the good sister words turning into pearls. On a
lighter note a French friend who knew this movie all his life and also the Cocteau/Marais affair, when I told him
how poetic the tears to diamonds scene was he said:
"Oh yes it is, and also very gay"
For another extreme example
if you can find the 1968 Euro
Odyssey film you will notice
how Troy and the TV Odyssey
rank below a Xena episode. The second even left out the
reunion with the faithful dog
Argo.Homer is the seed of all
western literature, not a looney
tune.Thanks again for a breath
of fresh air in a medium where
some put Chaplin and Keaton
on a par with the 3 stooges. I
know it's a matter of taste:
either you have it or you don't.
I completely agree - this was a piece of moving art!
Cool to see you check out this ole gem. I was lucky to see it in a cinema, the large screen helps with all the velvet-like greys in between the blacks and whites.
There was a french production done in 2014, starring Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux. It was..., mmmm... so so, lol, lavish... but a bit empty. Cocteau somehow knocks it out of the park and makes it look effortless.
This is one of my favorite renditions to the fairy tale than Disney version.
I almost got chills watching you pronounce this as....well, no spoilers. What an ending to a beautiful, fascinating reaction in which I certainly learned a lot! That was not on my bingo card, as they say! I'm sure you know by now, but this was filmed during German occupation. I've seen this movie countless times.....and yet every time I see it, it is somehow even BETTER than my memory of it! There's no such thing as a best ever, but if I'm asked what my favorite movies are this is always one of the handful of movies I automatically cite (American Graffiti, Paper Moon and Carnal Knowledge are three others, and then I'll throw in the collected works of various directors). Wow, what a month of reactions for this channel! This was the peak of the month, at least for me! But the good news is there's still dessert! Almost Famous! Interested to see your reaction to it, to be honest, I have no idea if you're going to like it or not! (I like it, not my fave ever, definitely not for representing that era, "Dazed And Confused" is unsurpassed in that area, but I do enjoy it.) Ok, enough from me. Congratulations (AND THANK YOU, ALEXA!) for crossing this one off your list.....and sharing it with all of us! All I can say is......what a movie. Whew!
Thank you so much! I absolutely loved it as well.
Ah Beauty and the Beast. The French novel about a reclusive deformed man falling in love with a beautiful woman. Not to be confused with the hunchback of Notre Dame. The French novel about a reclusive deformed man falling in love with a beautiful woman. Also not the Phantom of the opera The French novel about a reclusive deformed man falling in love with a beautiful woman.
I'd argue those three stories also cover the likely results of that sort of thing. The Beast is transformed through love and they remain together, Quasimodo doesn't get with Esmeralda (there's so many different endings to adaptions of that one, but in the book he breaks into the charnel house to die next to her body) and Eric is profoundly evil so Christine rejects him.
@@JohnWilliamNowak the best Beauty and the Beast is still the '90s TV series starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Even though it has the least to do with the actual novel.
Another TV show you might want to someday react to is "Beauty and the Beast" 1987-1990 TV series. It's more of a romantic detective story, think of it as if Barbara Gordon and Batman were working together, and Batman was a Beast and lived under the city like in 'Phantom of the Opera' type tunnels. Instead of Barbara, the main character is a lawyer, and her goals to help people in need.
That's a perfect way to describe the show.
Have the Criterion edition. Great film, been copied many times. Glad you enjoyed it.
15:58 So...he's also Superman? I need that Elseworlds mashup now.
I adore this movie, I happened to first see it both before and then after my single French class in college. I was amazed by how much of the French I completely understood after that one 6-week class. More astonishing, I remember some of the lines in French to this day, most especially "𝑽𝒂 𝒐ù 𝒋𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆, 𝒗𝒂 𝒗𝒂 𝒗𝒂!". Wonderful; thank you.
Your opinion is a pleasure. Thanks.
If you haven't seen it, I'd love to see your reaction to La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc 1928.
That is one of those films where I am fairly certain I have, but not in many years :)
1:25 As someone who has worn those kinds of trousers, they are as comfortable as you think they are.
"I don't like compliments, either."
Oops. I guess I should take them back.
I have always shunned them myself.
Interesting that Jean Marais who played the Beast who is love with Belle was Gay and the lover of Cocteau who made the film. This film never loses it's charm, magic, or wit.
Ridley Scott was no doubt influenced by this film when he was was designing Darkness' lair for LEGEND.
very enjoyable....the reaction....the movie was wonderful too
I hope one day you will be able to find time to react to some of the videos on the Hungarian Folk Tales channel.
All reactions are based on audience votes, and if that is a RUclips channel, I would need their permission first as well :)
If you like that movie you will surely like donkey skin (Peau d’Ane)
Hello
Please consider some Vincent Price. Thank you
Oh my. One of the greats. Some I recommend if you haven't seen them:
House of Wax,
Abominable Dr. Prices,
Theatre of Blood,
Laura,
Pit and the Pendulum,
And Masque of the Red Death to name a few.
@@jamesmoyner7499 The Pit And The Pendulum is one of my faves.
Masque of the Red Death is my favorite.
🌈👠👠👩❤️💋👨 My Dorothy it's your Scarecrow birthday and kissing your lips passionately and still love you more and our togetherness 🌽🥰❤️