''Donkey Skin'' (; 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 Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

romance

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

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

, based on '' Donkeyskin'', a 1695 fairy tale by

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , , ; 12 January 162816 May 1703) was a 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, published in his ...

about a king who wishes to marry his own daughter. It stars Catherine Deneuve and Jean Marais, with music by

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

. ''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 Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

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. There are several versions from different cultures with small variations - but the fable plot and story line remain similar, if not the same, such as Grimm's All-Kinds-Of-Fur, published in the early 1800's.

Cast

* Catherine Deneuve 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 as ''le prince charmant'' (the prince) * Micheline Presle as ''la reine rouge'' (the red queen), ''la seconde reine'' (the second queen) * Delphine Seyrig 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 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 ''wikt:rufus, rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Marcus Caelius Rufus, (28 May 82 BC – after 48 ...

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, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

's 1946 fairy-tale film ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'': 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 slow-mo or slo-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 visual 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 *

Château de Pierrefonds The Château de Pierrefonds () is a castle situated in the commune of Pierrefonds in the Oise department in the Hauts-de-France region, Northern France. It is located on the southeast edge of the forest of Compiègne, northeast of Paris, betw ...

Château du Plessis-Bourré Château du Plessis-Bourré is a château in the Loire Valley in France, situated in the Commune in France, 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 ...

Senlis Senlis () is a commune in the northern French department of Oise, Hauts-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 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". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

{{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 Loir-et-Cher Films shot in Maine-et-Loire Films shot in Oise Films shot in Yvelines French fantasy comedy films 1970s French-language films 1970s romantic fantasy films French romantic fantasy films French musical comedy films French musical fantasy films 1970s French films 1970 musical films