Manohla Dargis reviews Catherine Breillat’s new film based on Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty.” Great news here about a “Beauty in the Beast” in the works, to complete a trilogy of fairy-tale films that also includes “Bluebeard.” My favorite reworking of “Sleeping Beauty” remains Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her (2002).
“Beauty and the Beast” (the title could work for some of her other films) will be the final chapter in a projected trilogy that I hope she expands: Andrew Lang collected 12 volumes of fairy tales, some ripe for her singular deconstructions. The pleasures of Ms. Breillat’s work are its commitment and seriousness and its raw, sometimes very funny perversity: she’s lets everything hang out, without apologies.