Do you want to see ‘La B�te (The Beast)’?

Add to Netflix

La B�te (The Beast) (1975)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 8
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 2

No consensus yet.

No Reviews Yet...

Release Date: Jan 1, 1975 Wide

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 1,318

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

In this story, a young nobleman with an unusually strong interest in horse-breeding is being prepared to marry the wealthy niece of an American Cardinal. (Noble families which are growing impoverished try to marry off their younger generations to the heirs of wealthy commoners.) When the girl arrives at the nobleman's family mansion the day before the wedding, she is shown around the house and its treasures and is told the story of an ancestor's legendary battle against a beast. That night, she

NC-17, 1 hr. 42 min.

Drama, Horror, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Walerian Borowczyk

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1975 Wide

On DVD: Nov 8, 2005

Cast

Sirpa Lane
Romilda
Lisbeth Hummel
Lucy
Elizabeth Kaza
Virginia
Pierre Benedetti
Mathrurin
Guy Tr�jan
Pierre
Marcel Dalio
Duc
Roland Armontel
Priest

Critic Reviews for La B�te (The Beast)

All Critics (14) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (2) | DVD (13)

Beauty killed the beast, Borowczyk says, and erotic poetry freed the screen

November 15, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

The film is oddly effective and, unlike so many other "erotic classics," virtually undated.

March 1, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Seriously strange French skin-stuff.

April 17, 2005 Comment

Scott Weinberg

eFilmCritic.com

Yes, it's utterly unhinged in every way, but Borowczyk avoids much of the stylish overkill of most films of this genre and period, and the result is surprisingly timeless

November 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall

| Comment

Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for La B�te (The Beast)

View All

I never except to see this arthouse film is very erotic while it finally released straight to DVD, not in the cinema in 1975 because it was banned for 30 years - it's true! This attempts to mix a fairy tale, a sort of comedy of manners and faked explicit bestiality.This genuinely erotic film is wonderfully photographed

August 8, 2010

Dean McKenna

Super Reviewer

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, but as a whole it came across as amateurish and juvenile, a weak framework being used as an excuse to show sexually "shocking" imagery. Great, now I've seen horses mate. Oh wow, they're showing that guy's johnson. Sex and sexual imagery can have meaning and can be truly

September 30, 2007