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

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

fantasy comedy film directed by

Jacques Demy Jacques Demy (; 5 June 1931 – 27 October 1990) was a French director, lyricist, and screenwriter. He appeared at the height of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebrat ...

, based on '' Donkeyskin'', a fairy tale by

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

about a king who wishes to marry his daughter. It stars Catherine Deneuve and

Jean Marais Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 f ...

, with music by Michel Legrand. ''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 Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

. It is also available in Blu-ray format as part of

Criterion Criterion, or its plural form criteria, may refer to: General * Criterion, Oregon, a historic unincorporated community in the United States * Criterion Place, a proposed skyscraper in West Yorkshire, England * Criterion Restaurant, in London, Eng ...

'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

* Catherine Deneuve as ''la première reine'' (the first queen), ''la princesse'' (the princess), "Peau d'âne" *

as ''le premier roi'' (the first king) * Jacques Perrin as ''le prince charmant'' (the prince) * Micheline Presle 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 Fernand Ledoux (born Jacques Joseph Félix Fernand Ledoux, 24 January 1897, Tirlemont – 21 September 1993, Villerville) was a French film and theatre actor of Belgian origin. He studied with Raphaël Duflos at the CNSAD, and began his ca ...

as ''le roi rouge'' (the red king), ''le second roi'' (the second king) *

Henri Crémieux Henri Crémieux (19 July 1896 – 10 May 1980) was a French actor. He appeared in more than a hundred films between 1930 and 1980. Selected filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cremieux, Henri 1896 births 1980 deaths Male ac ...

as ''le chef des médecins'' (the doctor) *

Sacha Pitoëff Sacha Pitoëff (born Alexandre Pitoëff; 11 March 1920 – 21 July 1990) was a Swiss-born French actor and stage director. Early life and education Pitoëff was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 March 1920, the son of Russian-born parents ...

as ''le premier ministre'' (the prime minister) *

Pierre Repp Pierre Repp (5 November 1909 in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise, France – 1 November 1986 in Plessis-Trévise, France) was a French humorist and actor. His real name was Pierre Alphonse Léon Frédéric Bouclet. On 14 August 1930, he married Ferdinande ...

as Thibaud * Jean Servais 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

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's 1946 fairy-tale film '' Beauty and the Beast'': 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 and reverse motion. Shooting locations for the film included: * Château de Chambord *

Château de Pierrefonds The Château de Pierrefonds () is a castle situated in the ''commune'' of Pierrefonds in the Oise department in the region of Picardy, France. It is on the southeast edge of the Forest of Compiègne, northeast of Paris, between Villers-Cotterêts ...

Château du Plessis-Bourré Château du Plessis-Bourré is a château in the Loire Valley in France, situated in the commune of Écuillé in the Maine-et-Loire department. Built in less than 5 years from 1468 to 1472 by Finance Minister Jean Bourré, the principal advisor ...

* Senlis

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 The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

{{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