La Belle et la Bête

Movie Summary: The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn’t return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

Queer Film LA Says: As in Orpheus, bisexual writer/filmmaker/surrealist Jean Cocteau casts his lover, French screen superstar Jean Marais, in a magical film full of pioneering special effects.