Cork-lid trapdoor spider

““Give Me Back My Beast!” Greta Garbo reportedly called out those words at the ending of Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast (1946), when she first saw the film. When the trapped Prince appears, after shedding his monstrous exterior, there is a strange sense of disappointment and loss, something that the film, beautifully, does not shy away from. The Beast, as played by Jean Marais, is such a visceral presence, so fearsome in aspect and yet so deeply emotional, that to see him as just a regular human (also played by Jean Marais) is upsetting. Something has been born, something has died. Belle (Josette Day) stares up at the glimmering prince before her, and you can see the loss flickering in her eyes. She does not fall upon him with lusty gratitude that he is now “beautiful” and therefore worthy of her love. She stares at him, in awe at the magic that has unfolded, but it is clear that her feelings are mixed. Finally, she says, “I’ll have to get used to it.” This is profound.”