La Belle et la Bête (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #16.1 extract: La Belle et la Bête (1946)

An incredible cinematic re-telling of a classical fairy tale, one imbued with such immense beauty through both the design and Cocteau's direction. Made more than phenomenal by the impossibly rich cinematic language, La Belle et la Bête manages to encapsulate the spectacle of early cinema as projected through figures such as Méliès along side the poetic cinematic aesthetics of Vigo, Gance and Dulac to produce a masterful portrait of compassion, fear, repulsion and beauty. The cinematography alone is enough to leave you in awe, but with every single detail of this narrative fine tuned to perfection - the comedy, the melodrama, the costume and set design, the characterisation - La Belle et la Bête is an overwhelming piece of immense, fantastical cinema. 

If you have not seen this film, do not even hesitate, this is a true feat of filmmaking and a purely great picture.