So, unless you live under a rock (which doesn't have WiFi), you will have heard about the new Disney live action Beauty and the Beast remake that hit cinemas today. But there's some stuff you don't know that we need to talk about...
Like, what ever happened to Belle's mum? It's the eternal question that has plagued Disney fans since the animated musical came out 26 years ago. If you can't wait to see the film to find out, we've got all the info for you.
While the animated version features almost no information about Belle's mother or her whereabouts, 2017 is the year when all your questions are answered.
WARNING: Spoilers below!
If we could have any magical object, it would definitely be the Beast's book that can take you anywhere in the world, past or present.
In the scene where the Beast shows this to Belle, she uses it to visit "the Paris of my childhood", which leads to an emotional revelation regarding the mysterious absence of Belle's mother.
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In the magical time-travelling visit, Belle and Beast stumble upon a plague doctor's mask, which leads to a harrowing flashback where Belle's mother urges her husband to leave their plague-ridden home – a plague which proves fatal for Belle's mother. So that explains how they ended up in that "poor provincial town".
This painful memory also explains other moments in the film, for example why Maurice, Belle's father, refuses to discuss her mother. As Belle was only a child when they fled, she has little memory of her mother and therefore craves information (much like us) about her, and becomes frustrated with her father's silence on the subject.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Bill Condon explained his hand in including the extra backstories, saying: "Something that you have to do in a live-action version as opposed to the animated version is fill in the blanks.
"They're both outsiders, but how did Belle wind up being so different from everybody else in a town where nobody understands her, and how did the Beast become the person who earned that curse?
"That's the stuff we started to fill in, and it was those questions that led to the new songs — all of which centre on those ideas."
Producer David Hoberman also justified the not-so-fairytale death, saying: "The mom had to have died somehow. We went through many incarnations of ideas, but we also wanted to be truthful to the period. The plague seemed like a natural fit."
It's not the happiest of additions, but does allow fans to become more emotionally invested in their favourite heroine and her fate, and makes the tale more believable. We didn't think Belle was born from an immaculate conception.
Beauty and the Beast has finally landed in cinemas, so you can go check out the expanded story for yourself. But bring tissues.
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