French postcard by Editions d'art Yvon, Paris, no. 40-110-07. Photo: Parc Film / KIM. Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne (Jacques Demy, 1970). Caption: The princess receives the donkey skin.
French postcard by Editions d'art Yvon, Paris, no. 40-110-02. Photo: Parc Film / KIM. Jean Marais and Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Caption: Peau d'âne (Donkey Skin), a tale by Charles Perrault, a film by Jacques Demy. The Princess asks the King, her father, for a moon-coloured dress.
He declares that he will marry the woman whose finger fits the ring
'Peau d'âne' is a beloved French fairy tale by Charles Perrault from 1695. The tale had only been adapted for the big screen once, in 1908 by Albert Capellani. This short black-and-white silent film was based on a stage version of the fairy tale first performed in 1838 at the Porte-Saint-Martin theatre. The authors, Émile Vanderburch and Laurencin, had modified the plot and left the incest dimension out: in their version the princess had to wear a donkey skin as a punishment for her coquettishness and no longer to escape her father's eyes. Throughout the nineteenth century, this play was a great popular success in France.
In Jacques Demy's version, Peau d'âne/Doney Skin (1970), a king (Jean Marais) and queen (Catherine Deneuve) live happily until her sudden death. The dying queen makes her husband promise that his next wife will be as beautiful as she. The king decides to marry his own graceful and charming daughter (also Catherine Deneuve). She's willing, but her fairy godmother, Lily Fairy (Delphine Seyrig) serves as a social conscience, intent on thwarting incest.
Lily instructs the princess to request a series of dresses impossible to make. However, the king's tailor succeeds. So the fairy plots the princess's escape, wearing the skin of the king's prize donkey. The Princess goes to another kingdom and everyone seems to think she's an ugly scullery maid. Her disguise arouses hostility, but she manages to keep her secret.
In the woods, she has a chance encounter with the wandering prince of a neighbouring castle. Prince Charming (Jacques Perrin) sees who she really is and is smitten. 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.
French postcard by Croissant, Paris, no. 3666. Photo: Film Pathé. Publicity still for Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Albert Capellani, 1908). Caption L'infante coiffée d'une peau d'âne (The princess wears a donkey skin). The actress is unknown.
Romanian calendar card by Casa Filmui Acin, 1973. Catherine Deneuve and Jacques Perrin in Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Collection: Alina Deaconu.
Romanian calendar card by Casa Filmui Acin, 1973. Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Collection: Alina Deaconu.
A certain uninhibited streak, tending to be more daring than traditional French filmmakers
After achieving worldwide success with his third feature, the enchanting musical Les parapluies de Cherbourg/The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), Jacques Demy was courted by Hollywood. He and his wife, fellow director Agnès Varda, spent two years (1967-1969) working in Los Angeles, with each of them making a film there. Demy made Model Shop (1969) with the financial support of Columbia. Although the film was a commercial failure, Demy's American producers offered him the chance to direct a new film in the United States, A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn. Demy eventually gave up his position to Guy Green. He wanted to return to France to make Peau d'âne, which he already had in mind for some time. French producer Mag Bodard had visited him in Hollywood to tell him that she had the financing and that Catherine Deneuve wanted to play the princess.
Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (1970) became Demy's first film after returning to France. Since childhood, he was fascinated by Charles Perrault's strange and complex fairy tale. As a boy, he had staged puppet shows of all of Perrault's stories. Fairy tales remained a strong presence in his life. Demy wrote a script for a Sleeping Beauty film in the 1950s and ended up putting fairy tale references in both Lola (1961) and Les parapluies de Cherbourg/The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). In 1962 he started working on a script for a film based on the fairy tale 'Peau d'ane'.
Demy considered Brigitte Bardot and the American Anthony Perkins, who filmed a lot in Europe at the time, for the title roles. The two actors agreed to take on the role but the production costs were too high for a director who was almost unknown at the time. The triumph of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort/The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) changed all that. However, the involvement of his muse Catherine Deneuve was instrumental in securing financing for the production.
Demy's screenplay respected the problematic theme of the original tale, which the director would reuse in his final film, Trois places pour le 26 (1988). Enriched by his American experience, Demy may have developed a certain uninhibited streak, tending to be more daring than traditional French filmmakers. Demy's Peau d'ane invites you to a bizarre and surreal world, full of bold colours, real-life French châteaux, living statues, and fairy magic. The costumes by Italian designer Gitt Magrini are wild and wonderful. The film looks almost like animation coming to life.
Catherine Deneuve is an ideal and delicate princess and Jean Marais is very convincing in his role of tormented and jaded king. It was his final role in the cinema. Marais's casting refers to Jean Cocteau's fairy tale film La Belle et la Bête/ Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, René Clément, 1946), in which Marais played the beast. Also, the use of live actors to portray human statues in the castles, and simple special effects such as slow motion and reverse motion were an homage to Cocteau's film. There are other surreal touches in Peau d'âne, such as the king's throne shaped like a giant cat, and the courtiers and horses that are painted blue in the princess's kingdom, and red in the prince's kingdom. Peau d'âne (1970) proved to be Jacques Demy's biggest success in France with a total of 2,198,576 admissions. In France, the film is now considered a cult classic. It was Demy's top box office hit of all his work. Peau d'ane was restored in 2003 and 2014 under the direction of Agnès Varda. The film was also adapted for the stage in 2018 at the Théâtre Marigny
French postcard by Michel Lavoix, 2013. Photo: ciné-tamaris. Jacques Perrin as the Prince in Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Caption: The Rose: You were singing about love, are you looking for it? The Prince: Obviously, Rose, like everyone else... The Rose: So keep going, it's a question of trust.
French postcard by Cinetamaris and Arte Video to promote the DVD and CD box 'Intégrale Jacques Demy'. Photo: M.P. Lavoix / Succession Demy. Catherine Deneuve in Peau d'âne/Monkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970).
French postcard by Editions d'art Yvon, Paris, no. 40-110-07. Photo: Parc Film / KIM. Micheline Presle and Jacques Perrin in Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Caption: Donkey Skin. A Tale by Charles Perrault. A film written and directed by Jacques Demi. My mother, I want Donkey Skin to make me a cake.
Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.
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