When Belle realizes that she has been robbed of the key, she runs to the mansion, but too late: the monster dies in her arms. He is resurrected, though, but her love. He is now a handsome prince, Prince Ardent (Jean Marais again). In the meantime Ludovic and Avenant have entered the treasure hall, but the statues that protect the treasure have come to life and killed Avenant, who turns into the monster himself as he falls to the ground. Prince Ardent has inherited the body of Avenant, and Belle is initially confused, as if she missed the ugly body of the monster. But eventually they hug and they fly away towards his magical kingdom where she will be queen. At a first level the film is merely a moral allegory. At a second level the surreal imagery creates another allegory of a different kind. There is an existential allegory of the old man getting lost in the forest and being asked to die, and there is the morbid allegory of Avenant who is trying to seduce the innocent Belle and eventually to rob her not only of her innocence but also of her loyalty (in other words, of her entire personality, as if interested only in her body).