The Beautiful Beast

Louise is a vain and rich widow who worships her handsome but socially dysfunctional, young son Patrice, but disowns her intelligent, ugly daughter Isabelle-Marie. The daughter is dreadfully jealous of her brother, and the three of them prey upon each other in a dark love triangle. When Louise decides to take a new husband, their roles in this social game gets mixed up. As each one of the family members have their very own obsessions that they let out or suppress, a horrifying story of beauty, approval and mortality is created.The film is based upon the novel Mad Shadows, written by a 19-year-old Marie-Claire Blais, which caused immediate sensation when published in 1959. Despite its discreet surface, The Beautiful Beast is quite a disturbing piece of work filled with physical and psychological violence. The brutal elements relieve each other in this low-key study of love and hate.Wim Wiklund