LA BELLE ET LA BETE (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)

LA BELLE ET LA BETE (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
LA BELLE ET LA BETE (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST)
Director: Jean Cocteau
France, 1946, 93 mins, 35 mm.
March 21 & 23 at 1 p.m, 4 p.m., 7:30 p.m.

The New York Times called Jean Cocteau’s cinematic classic “one of the most sophisticated and visually elegant films of all time.” Based on the fairy-tale by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, this film’s symbolic imagery is magical for children and adults. Cocteau is the French poet and artist who collaborated with Pablo Picasso (three of whose etchings are in the exhibition), Igor Stravinsky, and Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes. You’ll never forget Jean Marais’ expressive, furry face pleading, “Forgive me for being a beast.” The richness of light and shadow is the work of famed cinematographer Henri Alekan, who created the black-and-white magic for Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire 40 years later.


La Belle et La Bete
Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts
900 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone: (808) 532-3033
E-Mail: gcaruso@honoluluacademy.org