Peau d'âne

Talking 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.

A 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?

If 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!

Weird, 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.

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.