Peau d’Âne [Donkey Skin] [The Magic Donkey] **** (1970, Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Jacques Perrin, Delphine Seyrig) – Classic Movie Review 5196

French writer-director Jacques Demy withdraws from reality entirely now in his 1970 film – into childhood dreams and Freudian nightmares, both safe and disturbing at the same time.

Catherine Deneuve romps through a magic forest in the the donkey skin of the title until she finds the perfect prince, Le Prince Charmant (Jacques Perrin), in Demy’s sweet and touching fairy-tale for adults, based on the fairy-tale story by Charles Perrault.

The film also finds room for two other important French icons – Jean Marais as the troubled king Le Roi Bleu, whose wife has died but cannot find a new queen as beautiful, and Delphine Seyrig as the Lilac Fairy godmother, La fée des Lilas. Micheline Presle as La reine rouge, la seconde reine, Fernand Ledoux as Le roi rouge, le seconde roi, Sacha Pitoëff as Le premier ministre (The Minister), Henri Crémieux as Le chef des médecins and Pierre Repp as Thibaud complete the iconic star cast.

It is an unusual movie that is pretty, witty, delicate and thoughtful, with a beautiful production, gorgeous cinematography (Ghislain Cloquet) and a sweet score ideally utilising Michel Legrand’s typically sentimental music score.

It proved to be Demy’s biggest commercial success in France.

Demy is also renowned for Lola, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), Model Shop and The Pied Piper (1972), and is the subject of the tribute film Jacquot de Nantes (1991).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5196

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