cahn

Panna a netvor | Beauty and the Beast (1978), dir. Juraj Herz

I agree with the take that this trend of grounding the legend, the tale in reality has run its course, especially when the "reality" they're trying to ground the legend, the tale on isn't even real (the medieval times were all black and brown, Hollywood producers).

The case The Virgin and the Beast is not like that. There's still enough fantasy to it.

Like Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast before it, and Disney's own version after it (the animated one), it does not concern itself with reality, and is comfortable enough with being a fairy tale. But it has a dark colour palette, heavy shadows, dirt and grime (and animal cruelty, I could do without that, why must we trample the doe??).



Pekingese alert!

It's a different take: what if Beauty and the Beast was gothic horror? A perfectly valid take, chronologically accurate even, and one that the film does well. There's a sense of unease, from the way shadows distort the scenery and the characters, to the way the camera pans and zooms and sweeps (the camera is like a character, the Beast's inner voice haunts him and it moves around him and he looks directly at it). There's influence from Goya? Not really sure, I'm unfamiliar with Czechoslovakian cinema (this was before their independence, I think the director is Slovak?). Very slow too, lots of quiet moments.



The Beast's a bird! That's so cool! A bird with human eyes and cape he holds like wings! He doesn't walk, he sweeps along the floor, he doesn't move, he dances. Julie (that's our beauty) is trying so hard to find some storybook happiness among the ruins, she's so distraught when he destroys the statues she enjoyed so much (he's hideous after all).

The last three film productions of BatB I could find were one from 2014 that looked like every Hollywood fairy tale adaptation (oooooh dark and realistic -_- ), the 2017 Disney remake (saw that one, hated it) and Belle (by the director of Mirai). That last one does look great, I liked Mirai and it seems to be doing something different. It's the standout in a sea of sameness. The Virgin and the Beast isn't trying to be realistic all things considered, it isn't trying to "fix" the tale, it's just doing its own thing and I think that commendable.

Okay, there's The Ugly Stepsister which came out this year, but it's both unconcerned with the Baroque period, and trying to be grounded in reality. They should've gone all Marie Antoinette tbh)

This was watched on a whim, and this whole thing probably doesn't sense, sorry.