La Belle et la Bête (2016 North American release)

There are many tellings of the story of Beauty and the Beast. Common among them are some themes. For example, the Beast is truly monstrous, not just in form but in behavior as well. There is usually a stolen rose, for which imprisonment and or death is a harsh penalty that the Beast exerts. Another common trait is how heroic Belle (often the beauty's name) is portrayed. She sacrifices herself to save (at least) one other. Her beauty is also a physical manifestation of her inner soul. What truly draws us to her is her strength, courage, and loving heart. Finally she always redeems the Beast, so that his form can then match his saved soul. She rescues him, her captor, from his damnation, despite having no moral obligation to do so. Beauty and the Beast inverts the usual fairy tale heroic tropes, specifically commenting on gender and how it is constructed (perhaps because the original fairy tale was written by a woman, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve), and confronts male violence and ownership of women. Belle's heroism isn't depicted through brute strength but through her powerful love. Any good adaptation picks up on these themes.

Of the many filmed versions, there are two generally considered classics, Jean Cocteau's 1946 French adaptation and Disney's 1991 animated film. Both add elements and change the story slightly. For example, both add a romantic rival as a villain, one who further embodies the least desirable qualities of masculinity in their eras. Both neuter the sexuality of the tale and focus on a more chaste affection. Both are spectacular examples of cinema.  Leave it to the French to inject some of that eroticism back into this feminist fairy tale.

Director Christoph Gans, whose Le Pacte des Loups is my favorite werewolf film, returns from a long absence behind the camera to do a new retelling of the classic story, the French way. He sticks close to de Villeneuve's tale with the merchant ships sinking, Belle's brothers and sisters, the stolen rose, but adds his own embellishments such as Belle seeing the Beast's story told through a magic mirror (yes there is always a magic mirror of some sort - this one is vagina shaped just so we don't miss the point). He adds a sexuality which is missing from the more famous versions which, in many ways, is an integral part of the story since it is about passion saving us although a different sort of passion than the Christian story.

He sets his story in the lushest of possible worlds. Even Belle's family's poverty is idyllically pastoral and lovely. And this Beast's castle is as magical and otherworldly as anything you've seen on screen. Belle, played perfectly by Léa Seydoux, is the ideal heroine, and like the Belles who have come before her she saves everyone around her, including her captor. Vincent Cassel (almost typecast as the Beast) is the sympathetic Beast. I think he manages the difficult task of being both horrible and lovable.  Beauty and the Beast tells us a difficult story, about loving those who hurt us and the power in that, about the power available to women in our world, about the vileness of male aggression. Redeeming the Beast is not an easy thing for a film to get us to do. Some (like Disney's film) do it mostly by minimizing the Beast's crimes. Others (like Cocteau's film) show the Beast surrendering his power. Here, the story shows us how the Beast is driven to his choices through the cures of his own beastly actions or hyper masculinity meaning only feminine power can redeem him.

Gans' film is lush and lovely and entirely entertaining. He tells it more as a fairy tale than literal story, showing us that the redeemed man and the heroic woman may or may not be the prince and princess of a fairy story and that story may just be the allegory we need to understand this tale. His visuals are as fantastic as anything American and his happily ever after feels well deserved. For me his take felt fresh enough to warrant a new telling and it's beautiful to watch as well.

La Belle et la Bête
Starring: Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel
Director: Christophe Gans
Writers: Chritophe Gans, Sandra Vo-Anh