Beauty and the Beast — U.S. Trailer

added: Wed, Jul 27th '16

This is NOT next year's live-action adaptation of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" with Emma Watson. However, this is something that should hold you over until then.

Check out the new U.S. trailer for French director Christophe Gans' visually enchanting version of "Beauty and the Beast," starring Blue Is the Warmest Color's Lea Seydoux as Bella and veteran French actor Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, Jason Bourne) as the beast prince.

Originally released internationally in 2014, the French-language film -- which is less a fun musical and more an homage to Jean Cocteau's 1946 dark-fantasy version of the classic fairy tale -- will finally be coming to the States in September.

Gans, who's best known to Americans as the director of the 2006 video-game-based horror "Silent Hill" and the 2001 cult monster thriller "Brotherhood of the Wolf," also co-adapted the film with screenwriter Sandra Vo-Anh.

Co-starring Spanish actor Eduardo Noriega (The Devil's Backbone) and renown French actor Andre Dussollier (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement), "Beauty and the Beast" opens in select theaters September 23 with a home entertainment release to follow, via Shout! Factory.

synopsis:
1810. After the wreck of his ships, a financially-ruined merchant (Andre Dussollier) exiles himself in the countryside with his six children. Among them is Belle (Lea Seydoux), his youngest daughter, a joyful girl full of grace. One day, during an arduous journey, the merchant stumbles across the magical domain of the Beast (Vincent Cassel), who sentences him to death for stealing a rose. Feeling responsible for the terrible fate which has befallen her family, Belle decides to sacrifice herself and take her father's place. At the Beast's castle, it is not death that awaits Belle, but a strange life in which fantastical moments mingle with gaiety and melancholy. Every night, at dinner, Belle and the Beast sit down together. They learn about each other, taming one another like two strangers who are total opposites. When she has to repulse his amorous advances, Belle tries to pierce the mysteries of the Beast and his domain. And when night falls, the Beast's past is revealed to her bit by bit in her dreams. It is a tragic story, which tells her that this solitary and fearsome being was once a majestic prince. Armed with her courage, ignoring every danger, and opening her heart, Belle manages to release the Beast from his curse. And in doing so, she discovers true love.

directed by Christophe Gans

starring Lea Seydoux, Vincent Cassel, Eduardo Noriega, Andre Dussollier

release date September 23, 2016