Marcel André

In Jean Cocteau's enchanting take on the classic fairy tale, a young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious but noble beast.

In this heartbreaking drama based on Cocteau's highly successful stage play, a mother (Josette Day) smothers her grown son with boyish love. When the son (played by Cocteau regular Jean Marais) meets a girl and leaves the family circle, the mother flies into a rage. But when the boy tells his father it sets off another drama - she is none other than the girl the father has been secretly seeing. Tragedy strikes in this time-honoured tale of fledglings leaving the family nest.