103 - JEAN COCTEAU (1889–1963)

JEAN COCTEAU (1889–1963) Beauty and the Beast (1946). Signed autograph manuscript of the film’s opening text, in an original version containing a passage absent from the final cut. From the collection of Fred Orain, a collaborator of producer André Paulvé and future producer of Jacques Tati’s early films. Two handwritten pages in black ink, each measuring 20 × 13 cm, containing the introductory text for Beauty and the Beast (1946), one of Jean Cocteau’s most famous films. The second sheet ends with the artist’s signature, accompanied by his characteristic star. Before giving way to the narrative, Cocteau chooses to address the viewer directly. He asks the viewer to set aside, for the duration of the film, the skepticism of adulthood and to rediscover that childlike openness that allows one to believe in fairy tales, magic, and metamorphoses. The text concludes with the four words that give rise to all wonderful tales: “Once upon a time….” This manuscript preserves a more elaborate version of this address. In it, Cocteau opens his remarks with a tribute to “the great French mythology of fairy tales,” before declaring that he is addressing what remains of childhood in each of his viewers. This opening passage was omitted from the screened version, which begins directly with “Children believe what they are told.” Comparing this with the text that appears on screen thus allows us to trace the evolution of this introduction, whose final version was streamlined to focus on the evocation of childhood and its faith in the magical. These two sheets once belonged to Fred Orain, a close associate of André Paulvé, producer of La Belle et la Bête. Orain went on to enjoy a distinguished career in French cinema, notably producing Jacques Tati’s earliest films, before becoming the first president of the Commission supérieure technique du cinéma. Upon completion of this work, Fred Orain presented him with the two sheets by Cocteau so that the text could be reproduced using a rostrum camera. Provenance: Fred Orain, collaborator of André Paulvé, producer of Jacques Tati’s early films and first president of the Higher Technical Commission for Cinema. 1996, private collection.