La bête
Encyclopedia
The Beast is a French
erotic comedy
-horror
-drama film
directed by Walerian Borowczyk
. Although sometimes compared with Beauty and the Beast
, there are no parallels in the plot except that it features the relationship between a beast and a woman.
months of his death she marries Mathurin, the son of his best friend the Marquis Pierre de l'Esperance, and that they must be
married by Cardinal Joseph do Balo, the brother of Pierre's uncle, the crippled Duc Rammendelo de Balo, who shares their crumbling
farmhouse with Pierre's daughter Clarisse, and their servant Ifany, whom we see copulating with Clarisse at every opportunity.
The problem is that Mathurin, who manages the family horse-breeding business, is dim-witted and deformed, and as a result has never
been baptised. Pierre summons the local choirboy-loving priest to the house for the baptism, but Pierre, by promising the priest
repairs to his church and a new bell, performs the ritual himself so that the priest doesn't find out the truth about Mathurin.
Lucy and her aunt, Virginia, are driven by their chauffeur towards the farm but their way is blocked by a fallen tree. They find a
back route to the house but end up at the stables where they see two horses copulating. Lucy eagerly takes some photographs, much to
the disgust of her aunt. They eventually arrive at a back door to the house, where Lucy asks Rammaendelo about ghostly rumours she
has heard about the family. Rammaendelo, who is not in favour of the marriage because he is dependent on Mathurin to look after him,
shows her a book that describes the beautiful Romilda's fight with a beast in the local forest 200 years ago. Looking around the
house, Lucy comes across several drawings depicting bestiality, and becomes sexually excited at the thought of her impending
marriage, even though she has never met Mathurin.
Pierre blackmails Rammaendelo into persuading his brother to perform the marriage by telling him that he has proof that Rammaendelo
poisoned his wife. However, Rammaendelo is unable to get through to the Cardinal on the telephone. Pierre sends a telegram instead,
assuring him that Mathurin has been baptised and urging him to attend that very evening.
Everyone assembles for dinner, and Mathurin's uncouth manners soon become apparent. Lucy and her aunt try to leave, but are
persuaded to stay. Everyone having drunk too much wine, most of the assembly fall asleep while waiting up for the Cardinal. Lucy
retires to her room, undresses, puts on her thin wedding dress, and dreams that she is Romilda, playing a harpsichord
. Seeing a lamb
straying into the forest, she chases after it to find that it has been torn apart by a black hairy beast.
Meanwhile, Pierre overhears Rammaendelo on the telephone to the Cardinal trying to dissuade him from performing the marriage.
Angrily interrupting the conversation, Pierre cuts Rammaendelo's throat with a razor and tears the phone out of the wall.
In the continuing comic dream sequence, the beast chases Lucy through the forest. She loses most of her clothing in the process and
ends up hanging by her arms from a branch, and the beast licks her and masturbates. Lucy wakes in a sweat. Was it just a dream? She
tiptoes to Mathurin's room but he is asleep, fully clothed, on his bed. Lucy returns to her room, masturbates, and dreams that the
beast is copulating with her. She finds she enjoys it. She wakes again and is convinced that Mathurin must have visited her. She
visits his room again but he is still sleeping soundly.
Lucy eagerly returns to her dream. The beast continues to masturbate and Lucy rubs his ejaculate all over herself. Eventually the
beast dies of exhaustion. Lucy wakes and walks into Mathurin's room to find him dead on the floor. She runs naked through the house
screaming, and everyone runs to her aid. Virginia examines Mathurin's body and discovers that a plaster cast on his arm is
concealing a claw for a hand. Pulling his clothes off reveals that he is covered in thick black hair and has a tail. They run out of
the house in terror just as the Cardinal arrives to find out what is going on. Virginia comforts the terrified Lucy as they speed
away in the car, and Lucy dreams that she is naked in the forest again, burying the
beast.
by Prosper Mérimée
was originally conceived in 1972 as a film on its own. However, Borowczyk later rendered Lokis as a story (La véritable historie de la bête du Gévaudan) in Immoral Tales
(1974), which was envisaged to be a film of six stories. After Immoral Tales was remastered as a film of four stories, the footage became the dream sequence of The Beast.
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
erotic comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
-horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
-drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk was a Polish film director. He directed 40 films between 1946 and 1988. His career as a film director was mainly in France.-Biography:...
. Although sometimes compared with Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
, there are no parallels in the plot except that it features the relationship between a beast and a woman.
Synopsis
Philip Broadhurst, a wealthy businessman, dies and leaves his entire estate to his daughter Lucy, on condition that within sixmonths of his death she marries Mathurin, the son of his best friend the Marquis Pierre de l'Esperance, and that they must be
married by Cardinal Joseph do Balo, the brother of Pierre's uncle, the crippled Duc Rammendelo de Balo, who shares their crumbling
farmhouse with Pierre's daughter Clarisse, and their servant Ifany, whom we see copulating with Clarisse at every opportunity.
The problem is that Mathurin, who manages the family horse-breeding business, is dim-witted and deformed, and as a result has never
been baptised. Pierre summons the local choirboy-loving priest to the house for the baptism, but Pierre, by promising the priest
repairs to his church and a new bell, performs the ritual himself so that the priest doesn't find out the truth about Mathurin.
Lucy and her aunt, Virginia, are driven by their chauffeur towards the farm but their way is blocked by a fallen tree. They find a
back route to the house but end up at the stables where they see two horses copulating. Lucy eagerly takes some photographs, much to
the disgust of her aunt. They eventually arrive at a back door to the house, where Lucy asks Rammaendelo about ghostly rumours she
has heard about the family. Rammaendelo, who is not in favour of the marriage because he is dependent on Mathurin to look after him,
shows her a book that describes the beautiful Romilda's fight with a beast in the local forest 200 years ago. Looking around the
house, Lucy comes across several drawings depicting bestiality, and becomes sexually excited at the thought of her impending
marriage, even though she has never met Mathurin.
Pierre blackmails Rammaendelo into persuading his brother to perform the marriage by telling him that he has proof that Rammaendelo
poisoned his wife. However, Rammaendelo is unable to get through to the Cardinal on the telephone. Pierre sends a telegram instead,
assuring him that Mathurin has been baptised and urging him to attend that very evening.
Everyone assembles for dinner, and Mathurin's uncouth manners soon become apparent. Lucy and her aunt try to leave, but are
persuaded to stay. Everyone having drunk too much wine, most of the assembly fall asleep while waiting up for the Cardinal. Lucy
retires to her room, undresses, puts on her thin wedding dress, and dreams that she is Romilda, playing a harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
. Seeing a lamb
straying into the forest, she chases after it to find that it has been torn apart by a black hairy beast.
Meanwhile, Pierre overhears Rammaendelo on the telephone to the Cardinal trying to dissuade him from performing the marriage.
Angrily interrupting the conversation, Pierre cuts Rammaendelo's throat with a razor and tears the phone out of the wall.
In the continuing comic dream sequence, the beast chases Lucy through the forest. She loses most of her clothing in the process and
ends up hanging by her arms from a branch, and the beast licks her and masturbates. Lucy wakes in a sweat. Was it just a dream? She
tiptoes to Mathurin's room but he is asleep, fully clothed, on his bed. Lucy returns to her room, masturbates, and dreams that the
beast is copulating with her. She finds she enjoys it. She wakes again and is convinced that Mathurin must have visited her. She
visits his room again but he is still sleeping soundly.
Lucy eagerly returns to her dream. The beast continues to masturbate and Lucy rubs his ejaculate all over herself. Eventually the
beast dies of exhaustion. Lucy wakes and walks into Mathurin's room to find him dead on the floor. She runs naked through the house
screaming, and everyone runs to her aid. Virginia examines Mathurin's body and discovers that a plaster cast on his arm is
concealing a claw for a hand. Pulling his clothes off reveals that he is covered in thick black hair and has a tail. They run out of
the house in terror just as the Cardinal arrives to find out what is going on. Virginia comforts the terrified Lucy as they speed
away in the car, and Lucy dreams that she is naked in the forest again, burying the
beast.
Cast
- Sirpa Lane as Romilda de l'Esperance
- Lisbeth Hummel as Lucy Broadhurst
- Elisabeth Kaza as Virginia Broadhurst
- Pierre Benedetti as Mathurin de l'Esperance
- Guy Tréjan as Pierre de l'Esperance
- Roland Armontel as Priest
- Marcel DalioMarcel DalioMarcel Dalio was a French character actor. He had major roles in two of Jean Renoir's most famous films, Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game.- Biography :...
as Duc Rammendelo De Balo - Robert Capia as Roberto Capia
- Pascale Rivault as Clarisse De l'Esperance
Production
An adaptation of the novel LokisLokis (novella)
Lokis is a 1869 Prosper Mérimée horror fantasy novella. It was one of the last stories by Mérimée, started in July 1868 and published in the Revue des deux Mondes in September 1869.-Plot:It is set in rural Lithuania...
by Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.-Life:...
was originally conceived in 1972 as a film on its own. However, Borowczyk later rendered Lokis as a story (La véritable historie de la bête du Gévaudan) in Immoral Tales
Immoral Tales (film)
Immoral Tales is a 1974 French anthology film directed by Walerian Borowczyk. The film was Borowczyk's most sexually explicit at the time. The film is split into four erotic themed stories that involve the loss of virginity, masturbation, bloodlust and incest.After the release of Immoral Tales,...
(1974), which was envisaged to be a film of six stories. After Immoral Tales was remastered as a film of four stories, the footage became the dream sequence of The Beast.
Release
The film premiered on 06 January 1975 at Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival and was released with Theatrical Release in Germany on 06 February 1981.External links
- Review at RottenTomatoes.com