Ridiculous, sub-Cocteau French fairy tale with songs has Catherine Deneuve playing a runaway princess. Her father, the widower King, has made a deathbed promise to the dying Queen that he will only remarry should he find a woman lovelier than she. After rejecting all the single ladies in the land, the only lass able to meet his demand for a beautiful wife is his own daughter (the King asks the local soothsayer, "Is this a sinful love?", to which the soothsayer says, "If I had a daughter, I'd marry her."). Director Jacques Demy, who also adapted the children's story by Charles Perrault, was possibly filled with whimsy (or perhaps was suffering from a bout with childlike prankishness). His work is heavy-handed with a tale already steeped in the grotesque. Delphine Seyrig as the Lilac Fairy gives her early scenes a bit of real color (as opposed to the artificial sparkle hanging over the rest of the film), but Deneuve is wasted. She's a beauty, but the movie is beastly. *1/2 from ****

This musical version of Donkey Skin (1970) is a New Wave homage to Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (1948), yet it feels distinct from its predecessor in many ways. For one thing, it's much more light in tone, less austere and pensive. The musical numbers are catchy and romantic, unlike the operatic score for BatB. The pastel, Disney-like color palette is far off from Cocteau's elegant black-and-white world. The surreal touches come from the anachronisms of the fairy godmother, from her 1930s style get-up to her arrival in a helicopter near the end of the movie.Yet like the Cocteau film, Donkey Skin explores the world of the subconscious, specifically the Electra Complex. This is an element unique to Demy's film, since in the original tale, the princess is horrified by her father's marriage proposal. Here, Catherine Devenue's heroine shows a repressed desire for her father, played with great passion by Jean Marais (in a grand costume similar to his Beast in Cocteau's BatB). Her fairy godmother advises her against the incestuous union, but only because she wants the king for herself. When the princess learns of the godmother's marriage to her father at the end, she is noticeably disappointed and we get the feeling her marriage to prince charming might not be satisfactory.Donkey Skin is no masterpiece, but it is a fascinating piece of fairy tale cinema nevertheless and one of the most fun films you'll come across in the French New Wave, its melancholy undercurrent aside.

I'm not from this generation so I was discovering Jean Marais movies. I didn't knew what this movie was about. I thought it was another swashbuckler movie.Having known what it was I would probably not have watched it out of prejudices specially against musical movies... It was like a good Disney classic with actors, this will also sound bad for lots of people I know. That's why I decided to write a review about it. To tell people that this movie isn't as bad as it may look like.Its not a dark movie for adults but its not aimed at children either which makes it very enjoyable even 44 years later for a young man like me who hates this type of movies.Also since its a fairy tale movie, the few parts where they sign not only don't look out of context but they even are a bit funny like in Disney movies.This movie is very well made specially for a movie from 1970. There isn't a lot of visual effects but the few they have are very good and simple.One issue is the theme being a bit too much about incest, it makes the whole thing a bit awkward but it doesn't ruin the movie.

I 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.