Beauty and the Beast (French: La Belle et la Bête – also the UK title)[2] is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. Starring Josette Day as Belle and Jean Marais as the Beast, it is an adaptation of the 1757 story Beauty and the Beast, written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and published as part of a fairy tale anthology.

A beautiful young woman takes her father’s place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.