To me, Donkey Skin (Peau d'Ane) is like Jean Cocteau reborn into the French New Wave(!). Gorgeous and stylized, it's a fairytale told with the cinematic magic we've come to expect from director Jacques Demy. This is a fairytale that adults will enjoy more than children, as it's full of dark humor. Ms. Deneuve is stunning as always, and the sassy fairy is also wonderful. Surreal and bizarre, Donkey Skin traps you into its world of bold colors, real-life french châteaux, living statues, and loads of fairy magic. But Demy doesn't seem content to let the viewer completely lose him/herself in the world he's created. The movie is full of self-references, something Demy had partly explored earlier with The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but really let himself have fun with in Donkey Skin. For just when you come to believe the magic, Demy likes to remind you that this is just a movie. With only a smudge of dirt and an animal skin, the beautiful princess (Deneuve) is transformed on screen into the ugliest girl in the entire kingdom, so ugly that whenever she shares the screen with other characters, they all look on in horror. We still see a beautiful woman, under the dirt on her face and the donkey skin on her back, and we are reminded that this is only a movie-world. The helicopter is an amazing touch, and it made the movie for me. I won't say more, see it for yourself! (The reprint is currently making its rounds and is well worth it!)
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vespertine30 January 2005
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Sandcooler12 April 2010Talking flowers, red horses, bizarre musical numbers and a girl walking around in a donkey carcass, this is my kind of movie. The great prince may look more like a glam rocker than anything else, and the plot may not make a lick of sense, but it's still a pretty magical tale. Many of the scenes are rather surreal, and some scenes look like the entire crew just broke out of rehab, but if anything that just makes the movie more exciting. As for content, it's just weird. It's a classic love story, but it's told in such a peculiar way that for the most part I just stared blankly and pointed at the screen. Still, it's a very entertaining movie. Also comes with the most surprising helicopter appearance in movie history.
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Oriel19 April 2000The fairy tale on which this colorful musical is based might not seem the most promising story for a light-hearted movie: as the story begins, a dying queen makes her husband promise that his next wife will be as beautiful as she, and his solution is to marry his own daughter. Fortunately, our heroine has a savvy confidante, the marcel-waved fairy godmother, whose worldly advice allows the girl to keep putting off the marriage. Finally, however, the princess has to flee her kingdom and, in a Cinderella twist, disguise herself as a lowly scullion. Fortunately, even covered in a donkey's skin, she manages to win the heart of a prince.
An enjoyably tongue-in-cheek combination of music, humor, and romance, this film features some of the most splendidly over-the-top costumes I've ever seen, and an adorable soft-focus, slow-motion duet between the two young lovers (with hilariously anachronistic lyrics). Actor Jean Marais, who distinguished himself in a very different fairy tale film --Cocteau's -La Belle et la Bete- --makes a distinguished if warped king, and Catherine Deneuve charms as she bakes a cake while singing the recipe--and daintily keeping her ruffled sleeves out of the batter. The fairy godmother is probably the most enjoyable character, a modish lady in high heels who has her own ideas about the king's proper romantic destiny. A plus for tourists is that much of the film takes place in actual French castles, including the one with the famous double-helix staircase.
Those who prefer a darker slant to fairy tales may enjoy reading Robin McKinley's novel -Deerskin-, based on the same story. But if -The Slipper and the Rose- is more your speed, or if you want something appropriate for all ages, track down -Donkey Skin-. Just be prepared if your daughter demands a dress the color of the moon next Halloween. -
fclacher20 May 2006Weird, yes and off-putting to some, but this is a classic French "conte de fée" (fairy tale) by Charles Perrault.
This man was also responsible for Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
The stories in Mother Goose also stemmed from his work.
If you think about it, many of these stories contain weird or gruesome elements but are now all considered classics which we read to our children, albeit in somewhat doctored form.
So, weird to Americans, but normal to the French.
One cannot deny that the picture is beautifully filmed, and that the color is truly outstanding.
We should note that Jacques Demy also directed the Umbrellas of Cherbourg and the Young Girls of Rochefort. There is a great similarity in attitude and art if one compares these three films of his. -
lee_eisenberg1 November 2008If ever you need any kind of indication that fairy tales were not always excessively cute stories to entertain children, look no further than Jacques Demy's movie version of Charles Perrault's "Peau d'ane" ("Donkey Skin" in English). I had heard some about the story but until now never known the specific plot. The events during the first part of the movie imply that it must have been harder to gross people out in the 17th century.
But once Donkey Skin (Catherine Deneuve) flees, the film becomes almost a different movie. Aside from the fact that she now has to live among the peasants and do lowly work, her experiences with the prince (Jacques Perrin) take on a dimension of their own. The movie has a hippie-like quality, what with the colors and the fact that Donkey Skin and the prince set out to break the rules. And finally at the end, a deliberate anachronism; not only has the film had several contrasts between colors, there's a contrast between old and modern. This is truly a movie unlike any other.
So while I do recommend the film, I should remind you that this is not really a movie for the little ones. Seriously, some of the stuff in the first part of the movie was the sort of stuff that one would expect in a Farrelly brothers movie. No matter; as a whole, the movie is one that you'll probably never forget. Also starring Jean Marais, Delphine Seyrig, Micheline Presle and Fernand Ledoux.
PS: in a DVD featurette about the production, they note that Jim Morrison visited the set. Now there was something that Charles Perrault never could have predicted! -
netflixhaiku12 February 2006HAIKU: Once upon a time / In France, girls wore donkey skins / To not marry dad
FOUR PLUSES & A NEGATIVE: 1) French fairy-tale by Charles Perrault, the 17th-century author of "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty." 2) Musical with easy-on-the-ears songs and melodies. 3) By the same French director who brought to screen "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)" and "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort)" among other classics of French cinema. 4) Catherine Deneuve at her most radiant! 5) Themes involving scatology, incest, and bestiality.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: I saw this film in my sixth grade French class. We went to see it at the Film Form (I think it was there, at least maybe it was at the Alliance Française) and then we went to a French restaurant where my arch enemy at that time, Richard Salz, had an embarrassing moment with his French Onion Soup. Being the poor Black kid at a rich White private school, I didn't have money for an appetizer, so I watched while everyone else ate their soup or snails. Still, I remember having felt transported to another place and time, a feeling that would be recreated later in life by drugs and alcohol.
I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys French cinema or to brave families who like fairy tale films. Despite the "strange" themes, it is told responsibly, almost as if it where a life lesson that everyone had to learn at some point in their lives, like all dads want to marry their daughters and daughters would oblige were it not for this film
If you'd like to read more of my haiku, please visit my blog at: richardwallenhaiku.blogspot.com -
dbdumonteil20 December 2002Jacques Demy is a French maker who is famous for his musicals such as "les parapluies de Cherbourg" or "les demoiselles de Rochefort". For this movie, he chose to adapt a fairy tale written by Charles Perrault during the seventeenth century and he wisely chose. This movie is a real treat, an absolute enchantment and rare are the movies that succeed in recreating the wonderful atmosphere of fairy tales. Everything, here, reaches a level of perfection rarely reached: sceneries and costumes are marvellous, especially the rooms of the first castle that you see at the beginning of the movie. Moreover, a part of it was made at Chambord. Then, the music is really gorgeous and the songs ravishing. I also noticed that Demy introduced a contemporary humor which contains numerous anachronisms. For example, near the end of the film, Jean Marais appears in a helicopter! However, the story takes place in the seventeenth century. How strange it is... Don't forget, a performance of quality. Catherine Deneuve is an ideal and delicate princess but Jean Marais is probably the best actor in the movie. He's very convincing in his role of tormented and jaded king. Besides, it was his last role for the cinema. After that, he's given over to painting and sculpture. Even if certain special effects are a little kitsch, the movie is impregnated with a lot of poetry. So, at the end, a movie that seduces the eyesight and the hearing and this is one of Demy's masterpieces.
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angelmpb28 July 2006I saw this movie for the first time in the movies when I was a little girl. I never forgot it, I never forgot the main song. For years I tried to find it in the video stores, I wish it was released in DVD. This is a cult-fantasy movie and deserves to be more available to the general public. Nowadays the "fantasy" movies have a lot of silliness and disgusting behavior due to lack of imagination of new filmmakers. Movies like Peau d'ane should not be forgotten and should be re-released so the new generation can learn to appreciate true art. Catherine Deneuve is in the top of her beauty in this movie, the clothes are wonderful, the music unforgettable.
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Chaves777717 September 2007Without a doubt, Jacques Demy brings to world one of the most exquisite movies, full of color and music, and "Peau d'âne " is not the exception. This movie is a wonderful adaptation of Charles Perrault tale about a princess who must be disguised by a donkey skin, so in this way the king don't find her and marry her. "Peau d'âne " is a distinguished musical fantasy, full of unforgettable characteristics of charm. Catherine Deneuve, who is the princess, as always, is fantastic and beautiful. The scenario is surprising, worthy of a fairy tale, each aspect is delicate and preserved. The songs are beautiful too, and very sticky. Other thing are its characters, all builds a perfect tale of funny situations.
Is undoubtedly that Jacques give to its movies a special and magical touch, that, between fantasy and reality are mixed to gives us a time of joy and tears, or both and " Peau d'âne" counts with that. Is a funny and beautiful story, each situation is memorable as its characters: We love the Princess character, as all the royalty and all the people of the town, but what make "Peau d'âne" more unforgettable is all the fantastic or funny situations that the characters are confronted in colors and songs (As memorable could be describe for example the sequences of the"Dress of time" and "The ring test"). "Peau d'âne" also counts with different technical methods, which develop more the previous characteristics, as are the slow camera and the "same scene" repetitions.
"Peau d'âne" is one of that classic tales that, in the case, as i am, you have not heard or read before, this is a great adaptation of it. As we remember other tales by Perrault, this is undoubtedly faithful. "Peau d'âne" is, sincerely, an indispensable movie for all the lovers of magic.
*Sorry for the mistakes...well, if there any. -
xnicofingerx15 October 2023Target group? Unknown. Too bulky and weird for children, too infantile for adults.
Reputation? Not comprehensible. An arthouse fairy tale that probably sunk its entire budget into its two superstars, then there wasn't much left for the rest. "Rich in fantasy, colourful, lavish, detailed, artistic, [...]". Well, I don't know, for me it all seems cheap above all. So many Eastern European fairy tales do so much more, in all areas. Maybe I'm classifying the work completely wrong in principle, but the time break at the end had given me the rest in my overall moderate impression. Only the musical interludes were positive, everything else was a disappointment after too many expectations. -
evening116 July 2023Here's a fairy tale that will please neither children nor adults. It's way too long and drawn out, and ends stupidly.
The psychologists among us will wonder long and hard about a father who wants to marry his daughter. Jean Marais was a wonderful actor, but he's wasted in this imbecilic role.
As the princess, Catherine Deneuve was never more radiant, but the songs she's made to perform have none of the interest or charm of her work in director Demy's "Les parapluies de Cherbourg."
Making matters worse, the film is full of loose ends. A donkey that excretes gold coins -- pretty special, right? The king thinks nothing of slaughtering it, and its loss makes no difference to him. And if he's monarch, who are the other royals in the tale -- Prince Charming's parents? It's as if that couple's realm appears from nowhere. Most egregious is the deus-ex-machina conclusion, with Marais's character having found love with his erstwhile foe, arriving for his daughter's nuptials by helicopter. How would 17th-century author Charles Perrault have felt about that?
If nothing else, this film is colorful. One guesses that the performance-artist Blue Man Group found inspiration for their face paint here. -
rafe-macpherson6 August 2006Being a university student in the 60's, in Toronto, it was a given that one saw as many foreign films as possible. The French New Wave was happening so we all trudged off to see the latest incomprehensible (to me) Godard or the new, much more accessible Truffaut or the ever bleaker Bergman or the latest jaw-dropper from Fellini and woe betide you if you dared to admit that you didn't "get" Antonioni. We knew how to pronounce the names of Japanese and Czech directors and argued the merits of Bunuel. We were into it, man. Cinema (not "the movies") was our passion. So how did "Peau d'Ane pass us by? I'd seen "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" of course. Who hadn't? Jacques Demy and Michel Legrande were practically house-hold names and yet no one raced off to see "Peau d'Ane". I'm sure it must have had a theatrical release, here and I dimly remember being aware of it at the time but it certainly didn't have the "Oh muh God!" critical reaction and word-of-mouth that would have turned it into the cult hit that it should have been. With no CGI and, by today's standards, the simplest of special effects, this movie is utterly magical and astonishing. I suspect that, for 1970, it was just too "French". The story is an (apparently) beloved French classic by Felix Perrault but quite unknown outside French culture. The title, "Donkey's Skin" and a slightly ick-factor plot line may have put off critics and audiences at the time but I'm now convinced that every director of the spate of fantasy movies that we currently enjoy has been heavily influenced by "Peau d'Ane".
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gavin694225 August 2014A fairy godmother (Delphine Seyrig) helps a princess (Catherine Deneuve) disguise herself so she will not have to marry a man (Jean Marais) she does not love.
Jacques Demy loved fairy tales since childhood, and they remained a strong presence in his life. He attempted to make a Sleeping Beauty film in the 1950s, and ended up putting fairy tale references in both "Lola" (1961) and "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964). With "Donkey Skin", he finally succeeded, and made what could be his greatest film.
He also cast Catherine Deneuve, possibly Europe's greatest actress, and his constant muse. Rounding out the talent was Italian costume designer Gitt Magrini, who is apparently not a well-known figure, but based solely on this film ought to be.
Numerous elements in the film refer to Jean Cocteau's 1946 fairy tale film "Beauty and the Beast": the casting of Jean Marais (who had been Cocteau's beast), the use of live actors to portray human statues in the castles, and the use of simple special effects such as slow motion and reverse motion.
There is also the influence of Walt Disney. Demy himself noted in 1971, "When I wrote the scene where we see Donkey Skin kneading the dough and singing the song of the love cake, I saw Snow White, assisted by birds, preparing a pie." What are we to make of the incest theme? Interestingly, the whole concept seems to be ignored, with the idea of father-daughter love being wrong only on practical, never moral, grounds. What is the film trying to say? Demy returned to this theme in "Three Seats for the 26th" (1988), although in a very different context.
There is also the unusual blend of fairy tale and modernity, both in the "poetry of the future" and a later reveal concerning transportation. Again, how are we to interpret this? Is it all a dream, a fantasy world outside of time itself? -
planktonrules12 July 2005This is one strange French film! This isn't to say that it's bad---just VERY strange. The best way to describe it is a combination of Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast and Disney's Cinderella. Despite having live actors, the colors, costumes and sets look almost like animation come to life. This is a very good thing, as the colors are incredibly bright and just plain cool. The reason I say it reminds me of Cocteau's masterpiece is that there are so many weird story elements and camera tricks that Cocteau must have inspired for this movie (such as running scenes backwards).
The basic plot is just kind of sick--a king wants to marry his biological daughter! Too weird. She runs away with the help of her fairy godmother (though she herself seemed more than willing to go through with the wedding, her fairy godmother was appalled). So, to help her escape, the fairy godmother instructs her to wear a donkey skin and RUN! She goes to another kingdom and everyone seems to think she's an ugly scullery maid--though she is the incredibly beautiful Catherine Deneuve (there must have been a magic spell on the skin, as it was very obvious to the viewers that this was Daneuve). A passing prince sees her and is smitten and the rest is kind of like Cinderella.
However, there is so much weirdness in the story! I'll cite just a few examples: 1. The donkey, before he is skinned, is an enchanted one. He poops gold and precious gems! 2. After she runs away with the donkey skin, she meets an old hag who after talking a sentence or two, spits live frogs out on the ground! 3. The servants in her own country wear all blue with painted blue skin. In the prince's land, they all have red faces and clothes.
So I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants something different. It is a kids' movie, though adults will likely enjoy it as well. However, due to the extreme yuckiness of the plot (incest), this may definitely scare away many and may require parents to discuss this with their kids afterwards! -
Felix-285 November 2005This movie to me comes across as an attempt by Demy to create the kind of magic that Cocteau created with La Belle et La Bete, but a failed attempt.
The story was truly silly. I know that's what should be expected from a fairy tale, but this one seemed far more silly than most. What's the point of the donkey that excretes wealth? Why would even a fairy king even think of marrying his own daughter? Doesn't that same king wonder even for a little while where that daughter disappears to?
But even if I forgive all that, the fact remains that the film just never takes flight. There's not the slightest sense of wonder or excitement at any point. The greatest danger for the romance between Peau D'ane and the Prince is not that they will be thwarted by his or her parents, but that they'll die of boredom with each other.
A big disappointment, I'm afraid. -
writers_reign5 November 2007This is at once ravishing, enchanting and sumptuous, a fairytale told the way fairy tales should be told with a cast of heavy-hitters led by Catherine Deneuve and featuring Jean Marais, Micheline Presle, Jaques Perrin and Delphine Seyrig. To those who only know him as the top-and-tale narrator of both Cinema Paradiso and Les Choristes Perrin will be a revelation as a handsome leading man, a genuine Prince Charming as called for. As a lyricist Demy made a great director but one can't have everything and banal lyrics are a small price to pay for a gem like this which cleverly contrasts the fabulist setting of the castle - looking strangely like the one in Les Visiteurs du soir - with the Breughel-like crowds in the second kingdom where Deneuve finds work as a scullion. One to own on DVD.
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celestesq5 July 2015My response to this film is remarkably like the one posted previously. I saw this movie once, about 30 years ago when I was in my mid-20's. I thought it was completely magical and I, too, remember the music. The art direction is superb, from scenery to costumes, to makeup and hair. Exquisite cinematography befitting a fairy-tale. Catherine Deneuve is as beautiful, seductive and INNOCENT as one could ever hope a romantic heroine to be. Jean Marais, similarly, is an archetypal romantic hero, either despite of, or because of, his nonstandard handsome visage.
I have been waiting to see it again for decades, and was delighted to see that it is going to be aired on TCM. I have my DVD recorder all programmed and ready to roll.
It is an exquisite example of the film-makers art. It is not a chick-flick, because it is NOT a movie, it is a film, and a film worthy of your time and focus. -
I first watched this movie at 14 and I had forgotten most of it when I got hold of the DVD. From the start I could tell that the movie had an unusual angle, and that is was deconstructing the traditional fairy tale - but it went far beyond that and one of its qualities is that it never takes itself seriously. Deneuve is as stunning as ever; Perrin, Marais and especially Seyrig are most effective in supporting roles; the music is really gentle but highly effective; and the direction inspired. I think it is a film with far more to teach than critics would believe or allow. I am glad I found this film and saw it again. As for my kids, they felt it was far more advanced than anything kids see these days.
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cyennne6 May 2008Apart from the costumes and the set design, I honestly can't understand the appeal of this film. I realize it's a film most likely made for 6-year-old girls, and what struck me was that it could very well be a launch for a deluxe Mattel Barbie doll set, (lilac Fairy Godmother, chest of gowns, and helicopter sold separately...)
An incestuous King for a father, this princess with her blue skinned servants has nothing better to do than sing the same refrains of a love song on the Castle lawn...
And that hapless little donkey, poor creature that excretes gold and silver coins at the pumping of its tail... This magical animal is slaughtered, its bloody skin, head and even its upper teeth intact, carried by a doting King to his princess/daughter/future bride's bedchamber on her capricious demand. That nobody seemed to find this disturbing puzzles me. My god, the skin was red on the inside and she wears it like a fur coat??? Well, I suppose that's fitting. What vampires these aristocrats are! If this is intended for children, then what are the values being promoted here? The prince she falls in love with - spoiled, indolent, over privileged... Who could care less about this airhead couple? The princess puts a ring in the cake she bakes for him. What a cliché, that the prince practically chokes on it provides one bit of comic relief at least that and the parrot who echoes that sickening, "amour amour..." song that goes on and on through the film in that thin, brittle soprano.
I expected a lot, especially upon reading someone raving about the soundtrack. A good score is important to me. But this music was more grating than any musical I'd ever heard. Such saccharine songs so sickeningly cycled throughout the film must have driven the crew batty by the time the editing was done. But then again, this probably was intended for very young children, so I shouldn't be so harsh.
Then what of the 4 French "talking heads" segment in special features - (2 psychoanalysts, a professor of literature, and a film maker)who make so much of the film and take themselves far too seriously? Is it also intended for adults, then? As an ardent fan of French New Wave cinema, and the films of Jacques Demy's wife, Agnes Varda, and of all the films of Jean Cocteau, I expected the work of art that everyone touted the film as being an homage to Cocteau as promised. All I could see that was savagely reminiscent of Cocteau were the blue skinned servants...slaves... what-have-you... Was the joke that this was a clever sequel to the Emperors new clothes?
Despite the beauty of the sets, the camera work was largely stationary and not very imaginative. The lighting didn't have much mood or variation either. The light outside was pallid and lacking shadow. If there were any artistic merit to this, I'd give all the credit to the costume and set designers. -
jgepperson3 January 2005With his bold use of color, and his fascination with objects and patterns, Jacques Demy is the Vincente Minnelli of France. I say this, even though I haven't seen all of Demy's films. I've only seen "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, "The Young Girls of Rochefort" and now "Donkey Skin." The fairy tale about a young princess who escapes from her (more than) somewhat wrong-headed father is charming, if slightly disturbing, nonsense. The disturbing part alludes to a suggestion of incestuousness. But, never mind. It's all so light-hearted and silly it hardly matters, and in intellectual France it probably matters even less.
Catherine Deneuve is divine as always. And she has some competition here from Delphine Seyrig, she of the throaty voice, as her fairy godmother.
I still prefer "Umbrellas...". "Donkey Skin" is not quite as lacquered. I even saw a few stray hairs on Deneuve's head in one shot! You would never see that in the other film. And "Donkey Skin" is obviously not shot on the same color stock that gives that deeply artificial saturated look (a problem I had with Todd Haynes' "Far From Heaven"). And even though both movies are wildly stylized, "Donkey Skin" is a fairy tale and "Umbrellas..." is about real people, so the latter is much more emotionally involving. Still, "Donkey Skin" is definitely worth seeing and I recommend it. -
Of any established fairy tale I claim the least amount of familiarity with this one, even as it shares obvious kinship with other works by Charles Perrault and his kin including ugliness of the sort that's commonly washed over in modern renditions. Whatever I expected of it, however, I definitely didn't anticipate major themes of incest and horrible animal cruelty, nor flourishes in cinematic adaptation of self-awareness and the modern world. Almost as surprising as the dyes and distinct colors that are applied to represent different kingdoms, let alone how some effects are employed (watch for the moment that the prince speaks with local flora). For all the curiosities or subjective imperfections, however, what 'Peau d'âne' invariably gets right is that it's enchanting, and entertaining, not least with Michel Legrand's original songs and a certain wry humor sprinkled throughout. It's a bit dark and weird around the edges, perhaps, but that just makes it all the more worth checking out.
For any peculiarities one may discern, make no mistake that this film is nevertheless crafted with all the splendid fancifulness one assumes of such fare, and it handily matches or exceeds other examples. Like any proper fairy tale the narrative exists in a world all its own, devoid of reality and free to make its own rules, and with that the feature becomes an exploration of pure, wonderful imagination. The filming locations couldn't be more grand, and the production design and art direction are as marvelous as they could be. Exceptional hair and makeup work, and especially the costume design, are nary a step behind, injecting as much elegance and beauty into the whimsy as could be possible. Sharp editing, mindful cinematography, and careful use of effects lend further to the mirthful airs, and as both writer and director Jacques Demy whips a 300-years old fable into dazzling shape. Smart, sometimes cheeky dialogue and scene writing add even more flavor to what is already guaranteed to be a fun little flit of light fantasy.
It's a minor joy just to see Catherine Deneuve and Delphine Seyrig here, and they above all are clearly having a blast with their roles as the princess and the fairy godmother, respectively. This is hardly to count out any of the rest of the cast, however, and the acting is more than suitable as it conveys an unremitting sense of lighthearted fun. Except for the most grandiose (and arguably self-important) renditions, fairy tale cinema broadly tends to carry a very similar tone of airy frivolity, and from one element to the next that's precisely what makes 'Peau d'âne' such a joy. It might be a step too far to say that this is a must-see, but anyone who appreciates such pictures will feel quite at ease with this, and by all means it's a title that I think most anyone could enjoy. I very much understand why Demy, and this movie especially, enjoyed such popularity in France, and I dare say they deserve broader recognition. Don't necessarily feel the need to go out of your way for 'Peau d'âne,' but if you have the chance to watch, this is well worth ninety minutes of anyone's time. -
Benjamin-M-Weilert19 May 2019I'm still in awe of Jaques Demy's talent with color and music in this odd little fairy tale that kind of mixes together "Cinderella" and "The Princess and the Frog". Of course, the ridiculous fairy godmother was a hoot, the songs were catchy, and the special effects were great. Overall, just a fun film in general.
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invisibleunicornninja8 April 2018For some reason when I was little, my mom put this on for me to watch all the time. I don't know why. This movie is terrible.
The story basically goes like this - a princess's mother dies, then the king decides to marry her (even though they're father and daughter). A fairy godmother comes to the princess, tells her that you can't marry your father, then grants her a couple of wishes. The princess falls in love with a prince and he with her because the other is pretty. After a series of dumb and convoluted events (including what I'm assuming is a dream sequence they both experience - its not very clear what that montage was) they live happily ever after? I'm assuming. After the initial events this story gets a little muddy. I'm pretty sure there's a scene with a helicopter (or maybe it was some kind of magical transporter thing - I'm not rewatching this thing to check) despite most of this movie taking place in what looks to be medieval times.
If you are a fan of movies, logic, entertainment, or if you're just sane, then I'm sure you can see why this movie's "story" is terrible.
Ignoring that, the sets and costumes are barely serviceable, the acting is bad, and the sound design is atrocious.
Do not watch this movie, except maybe out of curiosity. -
mooning_out_the_window1 January 2007This film is charming, the songs are adorable and catchy, even for those of us who are not perfect at french. The film is by Demy, one of the French New Wave film makers, who, as did the others, had his own distinct style. His joy at adding colour to his films is obvious in this film as it was in Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Each kingdom has its distinct colour, such as red, and as such all the horses, servants and outfits complement this. The colour and the music are not the only things this film has going for it. Another is that it is brilliantly acted bu Catherine Deneuve, who, though keeping the film light, absorbs you into her world. Though the film is suitable for children, the classic fairy tale story, there is an undercurrent and theme of incest between Deneuve's character and her father the King, whose wife on her death bed tells him to marry someone prettier than her. The Princess, the only one prettier, therefore becomes her father's choice of his next wife. It is a film that is first and foremost fun, and this can be seen no where more clearly than at the end when Deneuve's father and fairy godmother arrive. Very enjoyable!