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?

This 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!

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!