La beauté du diable (1950)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

René Clair

Writers:

René Clair (screenplay) &
Armand Salacrou (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 August 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

The Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.

Plot Keywords:

Gypsy | Beauty | Devotion | Superficial | Allegory

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins

Cast

Michel Simon	...	Mephistopheles / Old Prof. Henri Faust
Gérard Philipe	...	Young Henri Faust / Young-looking Mephistopheles
Nicole Besnard	...	Marguerite, the gypsy girl
Simone Valère	...	La Princesse
Carlo Ninchi	...	Le Prince
Raymond Cordy	...	Antoine, the servant
Tullio Carminati	...	Le Diplomate
Paolo Stoppa	...	Official
Gaston Modot	...	Gypsy

Also Known As:

Beauty and the Devil (UK) (USA)
Beauty and the Beast (UK)
La bellezza del diavolo (Italy)
The Beauty of the Devil

Runtime:

USA:95 min | France:96 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Franco London Films

Movie Connections:

Version of Faust - Der Tragödie erster Teil (2009)

when devil is beautiful

Of all Faust stories this film is the beautiful one: no demonetization of either devil or human. Every one in film are very human in their needs and their deeds. Devil gives the youth to Faust, not to have his earlier youth but any youth with which Faust can live his unlived life. Devil here is the defender of man, the one heavenly body that knows what it is to be old, near dying, weak and soft in head. Devil has pity of man that God never had, God only had plans. This message is deliberating and gives beauty to life, any life, but certainly to that new youth Faust has in this story. He really sees why his life went unlived and he knows - thanks to Devil himself - how to live it now. Gerard Philipe is great and convincing in the role of Faust: one believes that that youthful charm, energy and elan is intellectual, too. He might have been a Nietzsche of his days, in Medieval Time, full of attitude and vital in intellect! A great movie, real antidote to those German versions of Faust where Faust is just a bad dream of commerce.