Beauty and the Beast (Digital Script)

This version of Beauty and the Beast is based on the original tale by Gabriella-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (1740), the subsequent telling by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont (1756) and the Greek myth Eros and Psyche by Apuleius. Renee, a father of three daughters—Mallory, Naeva and Beauty—loses his fortune and is forced to live in a small cottage away from the city. Meanwhile, Queen Lorainne prepares for war and leaves her young son, Prince Beaumont, in the charge of an older fairy named Chantal. When Chantal proposes to the young prince, he refuses, and she turns him into a beast, until a young woman consents—of her own free will—to marry him. Renee, led by a younger fairy, enters a mysterious palace garden and plucks a rose to bring back to Beauty. The Beast appears and requires that the father have one of his daughters change places with him or die. Beauty’s father reluctantly agrees, and Beauty takes his place. In the Beast’s palace, Beauty is dressed as a princess, entertained by a charming play and gradually becomes the mistress of the home. As Beauty and the Beast struggle to understand each other, their journey is fraught with difficulty, doubt and danger.