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Jean Cocteau's Camera Use in La belle et la be

 

Beauty's sisters are often viewed through frames, indicating their close-mindedness and inability to "go outside of the box."" Beauty's family is never really viewed outside of their house, with the exception of Beauty and the father when he goes to town. They are content in their civilized world and they are content with living inside the confines of that world. When the camera moves into the Beast's world, there are more open, establishing shots rather than the tight-shots. This indicates how nature is not judgmental and the freedom found within this environment. The Beast's world consists of endless hallways and boundless fields, whereas Beauty's world is full of closed doors and gates. Cocteau also makes good use of the close-up shot to separate Beauty from the two different worlds. In one scene, Cocteau zooms in on a candelabra sitting on the table. When he does this he separates Beauty from Avenant signifying her separation from her world. Cocteau, later, zooms in on a statue of a deer that separates beauty from the Beast. This is also indicative of her separation from the Beast's world. It is as though she is caught between what could be real "the Beast's world "and what she knows is real "her home. Cocteau also uses a soft focus close up of Beauty's face throughout the film to indicate her dreamlike quality. Never once is there a shot of the Beast in this matter. The overall movement of the film is very slow, but if examined closely, one would notice that there is a considerable difference in the way Cocteau filmed Beauty's sphere and the way he filmed the Beast's sphere. While in Beauty's world, everything moves very quickly. In the very first couple of scenes in the movie we see the sisters running around frantically trying to get ready to see the Duchess. The shots of each scene filmed in Beauty's world go fairly quickly and it is though time never stands still for the family.


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