MovieChat Forums > La Belle et la Bête (1947) Discussion > Temple of Diana

Temple of Diana

posted 19 years ago by garberpog
5 replies | jump to latest

I just watched the Criterion dvd, and really appreciate the clarity of the restoration, compared to the dark and muddy version I saw years ago at a local art cinema.

My favorite image is the temple of Diana, just so strange and mysterious. It seems to me that the old version spent more time inside it; I remember views of the treasure scattered around, frequent cuts to the statue, suspense as it slowly started moving, took aim, shot. Does anyone else have this impression? Did Criterion edit these out?

Also, any thoughts on what the temple "means," generally or in Cocteau's personal mythology?

[–] longinas 18 years ago

I'm not entirely sure whether there is in fact missing footage, but if anyone was going to cut parts of a movie OUT, I highly doubt it would be Criterion.

[–] dreadpirate2 18 years ago

In Roman mythology, Diana gave up the company of men in order to roam in the forest with beasts. That just occurred to me. Thanks for asking that question!

I did accidentally kill her father when I went to pick her up for the first date. AWKWARD!

[–] ali-babble 18 years ago

I just watched the film for the first time last night and the addition of the statue of Diana really struck me. At first, I wondered why on earth
was the place called the 'Temple of Diana', because it didn't sound any bit as magical as, for example, a horse called Magnificent. But seeing the statue with her bow and arrow brought it all back to me. Diana was the patron goddess of hunting, who in art has often been shown with a deer. A virgin goddess, legend has it that she was angry when a man named Acteon caught her bathing. She turned him into a stag and he was then hunted by his own dogs, which is particularly sigificant seeing as the beast in this film, he himself transformed into an animal, likes to hunt deer. But your analogy to the beast (Diana leaving men's company for those of animals) is also a very appropriate one.

Hector Barbossa; now that's a pirate!

[–] dreadpirate2 18 years ago

I like your explanation, too.

I did accidentally kill her father when I went to pick her up for the first date. AWKWARD!

[–] tom_amity 18 years ago

A couple of posts ago somebody mentioned Actaeon, who came upon Diana by chance as she bathed, and the angry goddess turned him into a stag and he was chased and hunted down and killed by his own hounds. Well, have you noticed that in this movie the Beast's garden is full of sculpures of HOUNDS? Man into beast, beast into man.