10 Great Films About Forbidden Love
8. La Belle Et La Bete (1946)
Like Romeo and Juliet, Beauty and the Beast is a story that has been done to death over the years, the most recent Emma Watson-led musical being one of the least inspired of the bunch. Whilst the most famous retelling of the story came with Disney's admittedly amazing 1991 animation, the most effective of them all is Jean Cocteau's 1946 version, La Belle et la Bete.
The first major movie adaptation of the original 1740 fairy tale, La Belle et la Bete is today widely heralded as an all-time classic of French cinema, a live action riff on the tale that uses startling practical effects to craft the image of the Beast (Jean Marais), who here is portrayed as lonely, misunderstood and broken by his curse.
The film is rife with striking visual metaphors linking to the Beast's isolation and Belle's (Josette Day) growing feelings for the monstrous prince. It's a truly magical experience, overshadowed by the Disney classic through the years, but still more haunting and beautifully crafted than any of the tale's various adaptations.