Beauty and the Beast Movie Diary

Author: East China Normal University Press
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: I just checked the time with the watch that Mare brought from Switzerland for me. It's a 100-lira watch. People align their fingernails with the edge of the Italian D on the case, and the case opens, revealing the flattest surface in the world. 7 o'clock. In Rochegorgue, not a trace of our Bohemian nomadic camp remains. I'm a little sad. I've grown accustomed to living here, to creating life here. Golden wine flows from the source. The mechanics consumed an incredible amount of wine. Aldo dragged me to the source of the wine. He preferred to find a rare, aged wine and share it with others at random. Our work was completed under a bright sky, without a single cloud. I'm grateful for the clouds I once had. They were the glory of the sky of Toulouse. Even when the sun scattered the clouds, they still gave the light a layer of elegant pearl. Without them, everything would seem too harsh. Too harsh and too blunt. Every shot was fought for. I dare say, it was what I wanted to do, and I made it happen. No shot left me with a tiny bit of unease because the intended result didn't match the actual outcome. If there are flaws, they are my flaws, and I won't blame anyone for them. Today, shots. 11 a.m.: Jean and Michelle ride Alaric out of the warehouse. Alaric stands up. Yesterday, it refused to stand. The machine captured it. P44 Third time, the horse comes out of the warehouse, steps back, goes in again, trips, throws off Michelle, and the horse without Michelle riding it reappears. The last shot. Noon. Avignon and Ludovic ride on horseback, should be trotting, coming toward us, leaving the frame on the left, passing the machine. Tragedy begins here. Alaric starts tripping or getting angry. Michelle tightly hugs Jean, without a saddle or stirrups, and is likely to fall with a bloody head and cause laughter. He bravely starts again, but the horse's tricks become more severe (Jean riding back to the horse with his gaping wounds). I order a stop. We'll find a double. 1 p.m. I prepare to shoot the scene where Avignon and Ludovic meet the sisters in the warehouse before the horse arrives. The third shot. When Avignon sees the "magic" coming, a close-up of his head sticking out of the warehouse. We have lunch. After lunch, we shoot the scene of the preparations at 1 p.m. 3 p.m. I reshoot the scene of the horse running. The circus performer is dressed as Avignon. Lucille (the second unit director) is dressed as Ludovic. Alaric's hindquarters no longer bear Michelle's weight, but this double rider is a bit of a nuisance. It's throwing a tantrum. Later, it runs, and I'm sure that at such speed and such movement, people won't notice it's a double. Mare is a bit disappointed. In Carmen, he refused doubles and shot all the most dangerous scenes himself. In the film, as in war, his heroism stems from a remarkable certainty that he would never have an accident. But my view is different. In film, technology surpasses reality. The effect is three-dimensional. Reality, however, is flat. I mean those scenes that could be dangerous. A circus performer is better than an actor.