The movie had killed me – Diaries of Be aware
Jean Cocteau, 1946
On the morning of twenty seventh August 1945, taking pictures commenced on La Belle et la Bête, a French-language adaptation of the 1757 fairy story Magnificence and the Beast. Directing this grand endeavour in his 57th yr was poet and artist Jean Cocteau, a multi-talented inventive drive recognized for his distinctive surrealist fashion. Upon its debut in October 1946, Cocteau’s masterpiece was met with broad acclaim, celebrated as a triumph of cinematic fantasy, however the journey to its creation was laden with challenges and strife, all of which was compounded by the filmmaker’s ill-health. All through the gruelling manufacturing course of, Cocteau saved a meticulous diary through which he recorded the issues he confronted while bringing this formidable venture to life, and on the very finish, the day after his imaginative and prescient had been screened for the primary time on the studio, he wrote the next entry.
The Diary Entry
Saturday, June 1, 1946.
I’m writing these final strains of this diary within the nation home the place I’ve simply taken refuge from bells of every kind: doorbells, cellphone bells and the Rouge est mis.
I had determined to flee as quickly because the movie acquired its ending touches. Now yesterday, Friday, I confirmed it to the studio technicians within the Joinville projection room.
The announcement, written on the blackboard by the projectionists, induced a stir at Saint-Maurice. Benches and chairs had been introduced in. Lacombe had modified his taking pictures schedule in order that his unit and artists might attend.
At 6:30 Marlene Dietrich was seated beside me and I attempted to rise up to say a couple of phrases. However the accumulation of all these minutes which had led as much as that one paralyzed me and I used to be virtually incapable of speech. I sat watching the movie, holding Marlene’s hand, crushing it with out noticing what I used to be doing. The movie unwound, revolved, sparkled, outdoors of me, solitary, unfeeling, far-off as a heavenly physique. It had killed me. It now rejected me and lived its personal life. The one factor I might see in it have been the recollections connected to each foot of it and the struggling it had induced me. I couldn’t imagine that others would be capable of discover a story line in it. I believed they have been all immersed in my imaginings.
The reception of this viewers of technicians was unforgettable. That was my reward. No matter occurs, I shall by no means expertise once more the graciousness of this ceremony organized very just by this little village whose arts and crafts are the canning of goals.
Afterward, at ten, I dined on the Palais-Royal with Bérard, Boris, Auric, Jean Marais and Claude Ibéria, and we promised at all times to work collectively. Might destiny not separate us.
Additional Studying
Cocteau’s diary was first revealed in French in 1947, titled La Belle et la Bête: Journal d’un film. In 1950 it was translated into English by Ronald Duncan and revealed by Dennis Dobson Ltd. A brand new version got here in 1972 courtesy of Dover Publications, bearing the title Beauty and the Beast: Diary of a Film. I like this ebook. It’s an in depth peek behind the scenes on what feels like an unbearably disturbing shoot. The truth that Cocteau managed to finish the movie is a shock.
The entire movie will be discovered on YouTube. However right here’s the trailer: