Reading the Villeneuve original after knowing only the fairy tale was a shock. The curse resolution is tied to a deeply unfair test. Beauty's consent to marry the Beast is given under significant emotional pressure, knowing he might die of heartbreak if she refuses. Is that truly free will? Villeneuve paints it as noble self-sacrifice initially. Beauty agrees partly out of pity and obligation, not pure romantic love. The transformation then reveals the prince, and love blossoms after the fact. So the spell's condition is met by a compassionate, binding promise, not by pre-existing passionate love. It flips the script. The 'true love' heals him, but in the original, the love fully develops after he's human again. The breaking of the curse is the starting point for their real relationship, not its culmination. That sequence always struck me as more psychologically complex, if also a bit problematic by today's standards.