Official poster for The Beauty of the Devil (1950)

The Beauty of the Devil

Rene Clair - whose genius has created masterpieces...now brings his magic touch to the screen in a new achievement!

Mar 16, 1950 1h 36mComedyFantasyDrama
7.2IMDb
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Henri Faust, retiring after 50 years as a professor in a circa-1700 French university, despairs at the ravages of old age ...whereupon Mephistopheles, agent of Lucifer, appears as a virile, handsome young man and exchanges bodies with him to induce Faust to sign a pact to exchange his soul for renewed youth, riches and power.

Director
René Clair
Signature
Drama · Craft · Wonder

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Movie DNA

How The Beauty of the Devil actually feels to watch, measured on the twelve traits our editors track across every Nutevio title.

Drama86
Craft84
Wonder84
Humour78
Tension42
Action34

Story overview

What It's About

Spoiler-free. Read the analysis below for the full argument.

Henri Faust, retiring after 50 years as a professor in a circa-1700 French university, despairs at the ravages of old age ... whereupon Mephistopheles, agent of Lucifer, appears as a virile, handsome young man and exchanges bodies with him to induce Faust to sign a pact to exchange his soul for renewed youth, riches and power. But though the "new" Faust is attracted by the material improvements in his life, he remains wary of signing, while Mephistopheles, now posing as the aged professor whose body he inhabits, must find a way to trick him into signing the pact - and dissuade him from the love of a gypsy girl who prays for his soul - or find himself damned by his own Master...

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The numbers

Box Office & Release

Budget
Opening weekend
Domestic gross
International gross
Worldwide gross
Release date
Mar 16, 1950
Runtime
1h 36m
MPAA rating
Language
French
Country
France, Italy

Figures from the verified production record. Fields we cannot source are left blank rather than estimated.

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