Entertainment Weekly - February 24 - March 3, 2017

“THERE MUST BE MORE THAN THIS PROVINCIAL LIFE...”¶IN THE ORIGINAL

1991 Disney animated filmBeauty and the Beast,the winsome,

bookish Belle strolls through her village singing this lyric—a

dreamer’s lament for escape and adventure. But in the new live-

action version (out March 17), Emma Watson delivers the line in

a way that’s more urgent and heartbreaking than before.¶

There’s darkness at the edge of this provincial life. Amid the

usual chorus of villagers and shopkeepers, you see a line of boys

being led to school, while a group of girls is left to do the laundry.

Learning is not women’s work, and Belle’s neighbors no longer

regard her simply as a quirky bookworm. Her ideas and indepen-

dence are considered worse than unladylike. They’re dangerous.

Subversive. Beastly, even.¶ “They see her as a threat,” says director

Bill Condon(Dreamgirls). “It’s that thing that remains under the

surface. But when there’s a real threat that unifies everybody,

they start to look for other people who make them uncomfort-

able. That’s a pretty common pattern.”¶ While the animated

Belle wasn’t exactly passive, this time she’s a more intrepid hero

from the start, trying to rescue others as well as herself. She isn’t

just the daughter of an inventor, as in the 1991 movie, but an

engineer in her own right, who designs a washing machine that

frees the girls from their chores, allowing her time to teach

BEYOND

BEAUTIFUL

(PREVIOUS SPREAD) STYLING: REBECCA CORBIN-MURRAY/THE WALL GROUP; HAIR: MARKI SHKRELI/MARKI HAIRCARE;

MAKEUP: DOTTI/HOURGLASS COSMETICS/STREETERS; MANICURE: DEBBIE LEAVITT/THE NAILING HOLLYWOOD

COLLECTION/NAILING HOLLYWOOD; PRODUCTION: ALLISON ELIOFF/SUNNY 16 PRODUCTIONS; SHIRT: TOME; EARRINGS

AND RING: LAURA LOMBARDI; (THIS SPREAD) DISNEY (2)