''Donkey Skin'' (french: Peau d'âne; also known in English as ''Once Upon a Time'' and ''The Magic Donkey'') is a 1970 French musical

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Jacques Demy, based on ''

Donkeyskin ''Donkeyskin'' (french: Peau d'Âne) is a French literary fairytale written in verse by Charles Perrault. It was first published in 1695 in a small volume and republished in 1697 in Perrault's '' Histoires ou contes du temps passé''. Andrew La ...

'', a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a king who wishes to marry his daughter. It stars

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

and Jean Marais, with music by

Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many son ...

. ''Donkey Skin'' proved to be Demy's biggest success in France, with a total of 2,198,576 tickets sold. ''Donkey Skin'' is distributed on DVD in North America by Koch-Lorber Films. It is also available in

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

format as part of Criterion's ''The Essential Jacques Demy'' collection. In France, the film is considered a cult classic.

Plot

The king promises his dying queen that after her death he will only marry a woman as beautiful and virtuous as she. Pressed by his advisers to remarry and produce an heir, he comes to the conclusion that the only way to fulfill his promise is to marry his own daughter, the princess. Following the advice of her godmother, the lilac fairy, the princess demands a series of seemingly impossible nuptial gifts in the hope that her father will be forced to give up his plans of marriage. However, the king succeeds in providing her with dresses the colour of the weather, the moon and the sun and finally with the skin of a magic donkey that excretes jewels, the source of his kingdom's wealth. Donning the donkey skin, the princess flees her father's kingdom to avoid the incestuous marriage. In the guise of "Donkey Skin", the princess finds employment as a pig keeper in a neighbouring kingdom. The prince of this kingdom spies her in her hut in the woods and falls in love with her. Love-struck, he retires to his sickbed, and asks that Donkey Skin be instructed to bake him a cake to restore him to health. In the cake, he finds a ring that the princess has placed there, and is thus sure that his love for her is reciprocated. He declares that he will marry the woman whose finger fits the ring. All the women of marriageable age assemble at the prince's castle and try on the ring one by one, in order of social status. Last of all is the lowly Donkey Skin, who is revealed to be the princess when the ring fits her finger. At the wedding of the prince and the princess, the lilac fairy and the king arrive by helicopter and declare that they too are to be married.

Cast

as ''la première reine'' (the first queen), ''la princesse'' (the princess), "Peau d'âne" * Jean Marais as ''le premier roi'' (the first king) *

Jacques Perrin Jacques Perrin (born Jacques André Simonet; 13 July 1941 – 21 April 2022) was a French actor and film producer. He was occasionally credited as Jacques Simonet. Early life Jacques André Simonet was born on the Boulevard Port-Royal in P ...

as ''le prince charmant'' (the prince) *

Micheline Presle Micheline Presle (; born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne; 22 August 1922) is a French actress. She was sometimes billed as Micheline Prelle. Starting in 1939, she starred in over 50 French and English language films that were made in H ...

as ''la reine rouge'' (the red queen), ''la seconde reine'' (the second queen) *

Delphine Seyrig Delphine Claire Beltiane Seyrig (; 10 April 1932 – 15 October 1990) was a Lebanese-born French actress and film director. She came to prominence in Alain Resnais's 1961 film ''Last Year at Marienbad'', and later acted in films by Francois ...

as ''la fée des lilas'' (the Lilac fairy) * Fernand Ledoux as ''le roi rouge'' (the red king), ''le second roi'' (the second king) * Henri Crémieux as ''le chef des médecins'' (the doctor) * Sacha Pitoëff as ''le premier ministre'' (the prime minister) * Pierre Repp as Thibaud *

Jean Servais Jean Servais (; 24 September 1910 – 17 February 1976) was a Belgian film and stage actor. He acted in many 20th century French cinema productions, from the 1930s through the early 1970s. He was married to Gilberte Graillot, and later act ...

as narrator * Georges Adet as ''le savant'' (the scholar) * Annick Berger as Nicolette * Romain Bouteille as ''le charlatan'' (the charlatan) * Louise Chevalier as ''la vieille'' (the old woman) * Sylvain Corthay as Godefroy * Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand as voices *

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin '' rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Rufus Ada George (born 1940), Nigerian politician * Rufus ...

Production

Jacques Demy, fascinated by Charles Perrault's fairy tale since childhood, was working on a script for the film as early as 1962. The involvement of Catherine Deneuve was instrumental in securing financing for the production. Numerous elements in the film refer to

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

's 1946 fairy-tale film ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

'': the casting of Jean Marais, the use of live actors to portray human statues in the castles and the use of simple special effects such as

slow motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slo-mo or slow-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...

and

reverse motion Reverse motion (also known as reverse motion photography or reverse action) is a special effect in cinematography whereby the action that is filmed is shown backwards (i.e. time-reversed) on screen. It can either be an in-camera effect or an effect ...

. Shooting locations for the film included: *

Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...

* Château de Pierrefonds * Château du Plessis-Bourré *

Senlis Senlis () is a commune in the northern French department of Oise, Hautes de France. The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived in Senlis, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest. It is known for its Gothic cathedral and other ...

Reception

The film sold 2,882,018 tickets in France, making it the ninth-most popular film of 1970.

References

External links

* * *
''Donkey Skin: Demy's Fairy-Tale Worlds''
an essay by Anne E. Duggan at the Criterion Collection {{Jacques Demy 1970 films 1970 comedy films 1970s fantasy comedy films 1970s musical comedy films 1970s musical fantasy films Films about royalty Films based on fairy tales Films based on works by Charles Perrault Films directed by Jacques Demy Films scored by Michel Legrand Films set in Europe Films shot in France French fantasy comedy films 1970s French-language films French musical comedy films French musical fantasy films 1970s French films