Donkey Skin

Demy again hides pessimism and darkness (but not too much!) under a sunny exterior. Legrand's songs are lovely, and the costumes must be seen to be believed. The judicious use of slow-motion at key points is startlingly effective for such an old trick. The sets seem either too sparse or too crowded, and in indoor scenes the camera often ends up awkwardly positioned, creating a cheap, stagey quality. I'm not sure if this is a masterpiece or just a hoot. Nevertheless, an essential fairy-tale film.

Viewed July 3, 2017. It never quite goes dark enough or weird enough, but the lush production is filled with things to make it worth the time. The highlights: The image of Deneuve literally wearing the donkey skin, a bit of dirt smeared on her face as if that's enough to hide her immense beauty; Seyrig, going all-out as a fairy godmother; Helicopters and batteries; the Legrand-penned musical numbers, each a delight, especially the one where Deneuve duets with herself while baking a cake.

well. the kitchy set design is pretty glorious, but i'm not greatly interested in fairy tales. not even ones with a slight air of parody. nor even those that feature creepy incest storylines. :S

Cinematic fairy tale that asks the important question: if a man becomes a widower, is it better that he should get back together with an old flame or simply marry his own daughter? No firm conclusion is reached, but overall the film probably leans towards the former. Beautiful, charming and mischievous.

The moon dress was way better than the sun dress.

"There's plenty of disguised sex in Donkey Skin." - Ed Gonzalez

Another Demy/LeGrand/Deneuve collaboration, this time a fairytale in the "Cinderella" vein. Magic, fairy godmothers, incest, a donkey that shits jewels, a helicopter, gorgeous colors and costumes, and Catherine Deneuve strutting about wearing an animal carcass. The end result is very charming with a mischievous surrealist bent. A couple of the songs are forgettable, but others are truly wonderful. Ought to appeal to any fan of La Belle et la Bete (it evens stars Jean Marais).

i hear "problematic" i say "french style" 😎

Opulent (esp for the time) but verges on the overdone IMO (refer to the far superior 'La belle et la bête). Good use of colour as a medium. As for the musical interludes - very much of their time and as such (for this viewer) mediocre... and they interupt the story way too many times. An interesting take on the fairy tale genre but a bit too much, as an example - the use of the helicopter at the close. Risque premise but no nudity.

Beautiful film, loved the interpretation of a fairtytale. The outfits were marvelous. I really want to watch other films from this director now.

A fairy tale from the author of Cinderella which, oddly, Disney didn’t touch, perhaps turned off by threatened incest, donkeys shitting gold and hags coughing up frogs. In its demented way it’s very charming, and the wildly, bizarrely imaginative sets and costumes are dazzling. It hardly matters that the songs are mostly forgettable.

watched: 2014, 2018

At times very enjoyable mixing a hyper-colourful fairytale world with moments of odd, charming quirkiness and moments of dreamy beauty bordering on surrealism. Admittedly it plunges head-first in to kitsch at times (though even when it does it does so in a kind of charming way), and it does feel kind of empty, but I liked it.

Has a charming frivolity at times. Some of the songs are disappointing, though, and the whole thing just feels trivial.

Never heard of this fairy tale before and I'm glad I haven't - creeeepy. Disappointing coming from Demy. Cherbourg's use of color was stunning but this just felt like an exercise in trying to rehash the magic of that film. A few good moments but overall boring and way too by the book.