![]() ![]() ![]() Yet, Julie can't help but feel something tug at her heart and what follows is one of the most dark and surreal love stories ever put to screen. When she first meets the beast, she only knows his voice since he only talks to her from behind. Julie, his kindest and most caring daughter, volunteers to sacrifice herself for her father despite not knowing the grisly details. The beast tells him that if he wants to live, one of his daughters must come on her own free will to be with him forever. Through some creative camera work, we don't see the beast right away but from the father's reaction know that he is hideous and angry. At first, everything goes well until he makes the mistake of plucking a rose from the beast's garden. Desperate to provide for his three daughters, he sets out to the beast's decrypted mansion to sell a priceless painting of his late wife. But unfortunately for him, they are stolen in route by the dreadful beast that haunts the black forest. Directed by Juraj Herz, it sets the tale in a gloomy world where we met a well to do merchant who's expecting a large shipment of priceless jewels, diamonds, the whole works. Absurd you say? Like most people who grew up in the 90's, I was long under the impression that the only film version of "Beauty and the Beast" that counted was Disney's 1991 animated classic. We've all heard or seen the classic fairy tale of "Beauty and the Beast" but it's probably fair to say that you've never seen a version as beautifully done as this 1978's Czech adaptation. ![]() Reviewed by bayardhiler 10 / 10 A Dark, Foreboding and Beautiful Version There is enough of a fairytale quality to this to appeal to the inner child, and there are moments when the eyes will moisten! It's all accompanied by wonderful, sepulchral music, and directed like a hugely gothic TV film. Creatures hide in shadow - you only know they're there when you see a rolled eyeball or a moving, inhuman talon. It's good when horror films bring some new locations into their stories, but equally, it's always worth it to revisit the vast crumbling lairs of traditional settings, and that is done really effectively here the story is given the most impressive horror treatment. No CGI safety-net, the performers attached to this story certainly seem to suffer for their art in a variety of uncomfortably cold situations. They say the acting life can be very glamorous - it certainly isn't the case here. It's difficult to get past the opening scenes of close-ups of animal abuse, but at least that sets the tone for this very dark and murky adaption of the famous story. Reviewed by parry_na 8 / 10 A dark imagining of the story. ![]()
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