Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Movie Review

Unlucky devil.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 31, 2013

There was a famous old ad campaign that stated “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature”, and perhaps a similar proscription could be formulated as “It’s apparently dangerous to make a film about The Devil”. Take, for just three examples, the various amounts of bad luck—some may even argue cursed fate—that Rosemary's Baby, The Devil and Daniel Webster, and The Beauty of the Devil all experienced. Rosemary’s Baby didn’t actually have any ignominy heaped upon it per se, but within just a few months of its release, its director’s pregnant wife had been murdered in one of the most spectacular and disturbing killings of the already overly violent sixties, and its promising young composer had also died under circumstances which are still debated to this day. The two other films, which are in fact related rather more strongly in any number of ways than either is to the Ira Levin – Roman Polanski masterpiece, suffered the vagaries of the business in a different way. The Devil and Daniel Webster, based on the famous Stephen Vincent Benét short story, appeared in 1941 and was not only renamed (several times, in fact) but also was horribly chopped to bits for re-release. The film was not reassembled, at least as much as it could be from what elements which remained viable, until the 1990s. René Clair’s 1950 opus Beauty of the Devil didn’t find itself hacked to smithereens, but it suffered a perhaps even more debilitating fate: it simply seemed to up and vanish after its initial theatrical run, despite being largely praised and even capturing some nominations at various international film award fêtes. Clair had fallen into disfavor with the advent of the New Wave, a dismissal that seems especially ill conceived when one revisits Clair’s work with the added hindsight that the New Wave itself had its own issues. This nicely done retelling of the Faust legend is certainly one of Clair’s more accomplished pieces, one that blends a certain amount of whimsy with a decidedly revisionist take on what the real ramifications of “selling one’s soul to the Devil” might actually be.

Like some bizarre multimedia genre mash-up of Goethe and Freaky Friday, Clair’s take on the Faust legend actually has the elderly alchemist and young acolyte demon actually trade bodies in this version. We first meet Faust (played by Michel Simon, who will then play the assistant devil once the “trade” occurs) as a somewhat doddering old professor receiving honors as he prepares to retire. He is passed by an odd looking young student (Gérard Philipe) whose hair is strangely curled to suggest horns. When he returns to his spacious apartment, he’s beset with the voice of temptation, and while he initially dares the Devil to show up, he quickly thinks the better of it and insists that Lucifer stay in whatever underground domain he calls home. It’s too late, of course, and Faust is appalled to see that the Devil, or more rightly his assistant Mephistopheles, has shown up in the form of Faust himself.

Mephistopheles proves that adopting different forms is really no problem, however, and he morphs back and forth between a doppelganger for Faust himself and the form of the young student. Mephistopheles makes Faust an offer that seems like it would be foolish to refuse: he will allow Faust to transform into the young student with no strings attached. All that Mephisopheles requires is that should Faust ever want to completely command Mephistopheles at some future date, he will need to sign a contract in blood giving up his soul at the moment he dies. Almost without formally agreeing to this “bargain”, Faust suddenly finds himself transformed into a spry, handsome young man (now of course played by Philipe, who bears a rather strong resemblance to Louis Jourdan).

Clair repeatedly defies expectation in what happens next, while simultaneously proving how wrong headed some of the Nouvelle Vague criticism aimed at him actually was. A lot of that criticism tended to focus on Clair’s very professionalism—the sleek structures, his glossy production values, and his frankly lustrous filming style. That very “Hollywood” quality, something that really seemed to bug young upstarts like Godard, is part and parcel of the subtext of The Beauty of the Devil, for Mephistopheles continually toys with Faust in a series of illusions, to the point that the poor young man doesn’t quite know what’s real and what isn’t. The very illusory quality of glitzy Hollywood films is therefore folded into the Faust legend in an often stunning way.

In terms of defying expectations, at several junctures Clair seems to be leading Faust down a rabbit hole from which there is ostensibly no escape, only to then turn the tables on Mephistopheles, giving the mere mortal the upper hand. Just one example comes fairly early in the film, when Faust, now a young man, is assumed to be a thief who has killed the elderly Faust. “A-ha!”, some audience members will no doubt be proclaiming, “that’s the trick that Mephisopheles has played on this poor schlub.” But that turns out not to be the case—nor is it the last time that Faust manages to triumph over Mephistopheles either through luck or by chance.

Clair plays with the Faust legend very inventively throughout the film, including traditional elements like the alchemy angle which he handles in unusual ways. But Clair also introduces an almost surreal aspect—one that is at times reminiscent almost of Buñuel—that includes dreams within dreams and one long fantasy sequence (or is it?) that is almost like a male version of Alice Through the Looking Glass. The interplay between Faust (who as a young man adopts the identity of Henri) and Mephisopheles (who returns as the elderly Faust—confused?) provides a number of twists and turns to the tale that those familiar with Goethe’s version may find remarkable. Without revealing too many details, it turns out that those infamous contracts with the Devil may not be as ironclad as one might imagine.

Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Beauty of the Devil is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Perhaps because this film more or less vanished into thin air for so long, the elements are in mostly good shape. There is some recurrent damage to the right side of the frame, especially in the early going. It's rather minimal but quite noticeable once you start paying attention to it. It appears there may be some very minor emulsion damage or at least density problems, for a series of brief flashes which almost resemble contrast fluctuations ride through the very most right side of the frame for quite a while. Other than this kind of peculiar looking anomaly, things look great on this high definition presentation, if often decidedly on the soft side, especially in midrange shots. Contrast is very strong, with gorgeously deep blacks and nicely varied gray scale. A lot of the film takes place at night or in dimly lit environments, but shadow detail remains strong. Fine detail is very good if not superb in close-ups, revealing things like the patterns on costumes and the feathered lines of the woodblock illustrations of Satan that Faust gazes at early in the film. There are a number of opticals scattered throughout the film, but perhaps surprisingly, while there are noticeable quality variances, there isn't that much of a difference in graininess or softness associated with them. A number of sequences utilize mist or smoke surrounding Mephistopheles, and those all resolve perfectly, without even a hint of a problem. Grain structure is completely intact and there are no signs of overt digital manipulation of the image.

Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Beauty of the Devil features an uncompressed LPCM Mono track delivered via LPCM 2.0 in the original French. This is a fairly shallow sounding track, something that makes Roman Vlad's bombastic score sound a bit on the tinny side most of the time. Otherwise, though, dialogue is very cleanly presented and there is no real damage to report on this track. For the record, the English subtitles are non-removable.

Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Through the Looking Glass with René Clair: Master of the Fantastic (1080p; 49:58) is a great 2010 documentary by Pierre- Henri Gibert which gives some general info on Clair's career and changing assessments from the critical establishment while focusing more specifically on Beauty of the Devil, including lots of clips.


• Original French Trailer (1080p; 2:38)


• 2013 Theatrical Re-Release Trailer (1080p; 1:30)

Beauty of the Devil Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In a sign of the perhaps slightly more provincial markets in the United States and the United Kingdom, this film's title was slightly changed to Beauty and the Devil, perhaps to refrain from alluding to any inherent allure in Lucifer (and/or his minions). That "of", though, is particularly appropriate when one considers the sheer technical gloss of Clair's achievement, which doesn't even address the really unexpected ways he plays with the Faust legend. This is yet another very nicely done Cohen release, with generally excellent video and very good audio, as well as an interesting documentary included as a supplement. Highly recommended.