390. Beauty and the Beast

Title: La Belle et la Bête 
English Title: Beauty and the Beast
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Year: 2014

Summary: A widowed merchant is forced to move to the countryside after going bankrupt, with his six children, three sons and three daughters. His youngest daughter, Belle is the only one happy with the change. When one of the merchant's ships is found, the merchant prepares to return to reclaim his assets. While his two older, spoiled daughters give him a long list of expensive things to bring back for them, Belle asks only for a rose. The merchant arrives and learns that the ship and its cargo have been taken to settle his debts. On the way home through the forest, the merchant loses his way, his horse slips and is injured, and they are attacked by wolves. He laments that he has "not even a weapon to finish off" the poor horse. The merchant stumbles upon the magical domain of the Beast. In the castle, all of his needs are magically met, including food, the exact items his daughters had asked him to bring, and his horse, magically cured. He packs up and departs with the items. Passing through the garden, he recalls Belle's request of a rose, and he picks one. He is immediately confronted by the Beast, who thunders at him for taking the rose. As punishment, the Beast demands the merchant return to the castle in one day after saying goodbye to his children. If he fails to return, his family will be killed. The father returns home and tells the story to his children. Learning of her father's fate, Belle, feeling responsible, takes her father's horse and returns to the castle to offer herself in the place of her father.

At the castle, Belle is accepted as a substitute for her father. She is given luxurious goods and permission to roam the grounds, but must return every evening for dinner with the Beast warning her not to escape. At night, Belle has a vivid dream, revealing the backstory of the Prince: he enjoys hunting, but often ignores the Princess who loves him but is lonely. The Prince is after an elusive golden deer, and when the Princess asks him to stop hunting the deer, he promises to do so if she will give him a son. Belle wakes to find the Beast watching her sleep before he suddenly flees. Belle explores the castle grounds, eventually finding a statue resembling the Princess from her dream. At dinner, the Beast displays a rather cold exterior towards Belle while attempting to charm her, only to be rejected. He suddenly bursts out at Belle stating he will claim her despite her resistance. She later has another dream: The Prince announcing that he and the Princess will have an heir, but when she reminds him of his promise, he seems to have forgotten. During dinner, the Beast apologizes for his previous behavior. Belle makes the Beast a proposal; she will dance with him, if she is allowed to see her family one last time. The two begin to dance though amidst it all, the Beast asks for Belle's love. Jarred, Belle demands to see her family as she had bargained. When the Beast refuses, Belle fervently rejects him once again. That same night, she witnesses the Beast prey upon and devour a hog. In shock, she attempts to escape by running into the enchanted forest only for the Beast to catch up to her on the frozen lake. As Belle is suddenly knocked down and pinned, the Beast attempts to kiss her when suddenly the ice beneath her breaks as she sinks into the frozen lake. The Beast pulls her from the water, and brings her back to the castle. The Beast agrees to let Belle return home, giving her a small vial of healing water. He tells her return to him in one day or he will "die".

Belle arrives home, where her father is bedridden, and seems to be dying. She pleaded for him to wake only to fall asleep. Belle's eldest brother, Maxime finds a jewel on her clothing, positing that the castle may contain further treasures. He wants to find it to settle his debt to gangster Perducas . He knocks out his youngest brother, Tristan, who tries to stop him, and meets with Perducas and his gang, leading them to the castle. Belle has one final dream about how the Prince broke his promise and killed the golden deer. While dying, the deer transformed into the Princess, revealing she was the Nymph of the Forest who became human because she wanted to experience love. She begged her father, the God of the Forest, to spare the Prince from his wrath. But he transformed the Prince into a beast, changed the hunting dogs into Tadommes, and his friends into statues. The God of the Forest proclaimed that only the love of a woman would break the Beast's eternal curse. Belle awakes and gives her father the vial of water, reviving him. She attempts to return to the castle, and discovers that Maxime has taken the horse to meet with Perducas. Tristan takes her to the castle, arriving just as the Beast is about to kill the invaders, including Belle's brothers. The Beast stops his attack when Belle begs for mercy. Perducas stabs the Beast, mortally wounding him. Suddenly, vines sprout about the castle destroying anything in their paths. Perducas's lover, Astrid, is killed when he abandons her, but not before cursing him of his fate. Perducas is soon killed by the vines and turned into a human tree. Belle and her brothers carry the Beast into the castle, and place him into the healing pool of water. Dying, the Beast asks whether Belle could ever love him, and she counters that she already does. The Beast sinks into the water then resurfaces, transforming back into the Prince and the Tadommes back into dogs.

The story is being told by Belle to her two young children. They are living in the same countryside house, surrounded by rose bushes, with Belle's father, who is now a flower merchant. Belle goes outside to greet her husband, the Prince, and the two kiss and embrace.