Beauty and the Beast

One part of the Cocteau film that stands out in my memory is after the Beast is transformed back into a man and Belle notes that he bears a strong resemblance to her brother’s friend who proposed to her in the beginning of the film. This exchange struck me as rather odd because it did not seem to fit in with the rest of the scene, and I did not remember this detail from any other version of Beauty and the Beast. In de Beaumont’s version of the tale, for example, there is no mention of a resemblance of the Beast to anyone in Belle’s life. This then led me to wonder what the significance of this detail could be in the film. The conversation between Belle and the Beast about his similarity to her brother’s friend seemed rather stilted and then ended rather abruptly when Belle answered that it did not bother her that there was a resemblance between the two. It seems to me that the addition was most likely made to enhance plot or character development. I remember earlier in the film the Beast becomes very upset when Belle admits that she had been proposed to by another handsome man. Thus, maybe the detail of the Beast’s resemblance to this very man might be supposed to create a sense of fulfillment such that he no longer needs to feel inferior to another man in Belle’s life. It is interesting that in the de Beaumont version, Belle’s only question after the Beast’s transformation is where did the Beast go; she does not seem to have any concerns about his appearance besides the fact that he no longer looks like a beast.