Protraph
Lack of good storyline.
Tedfoldol
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Maidexpl
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Swift-12
The heroine is a Princess whose widowed father (the Blue King) is forced to remarry and realizes no one but she can surpass the beauty of his beloved dead Queen. The girl is horrified by his proposal, but advised by her Fairy Godmother she concocts impossible conditions for the King to meet -- which incredibly he performs. The last sacrifice is to skin his prized donkey, which has yielded daily treasures of gems and gold in place of manure. Gradually she sympathizes with him and readies herself to the idea of matrimony, but the Fairy devises her escape and the Princess leaves incognito, wrapped in the filthy donkey skin. Hiding in a distant village in another realm, the regal girl is now treated as the lowliest servant. Enter the young Prince of the Red Kingdom as he passes through. He is feeling the melancholy of loneliness and ready for True Love which eludes him. He wanders through the wood and is led magically to the Princess and sees through her disguise. They do not actually meet, but the rest of the story involves the delicate steps towards restoring her to nobility, acceptability, and betrothal. It's a very charming musical fairy-tale, teeming with metaphors as children's stories often do. Jacques Demy was very influenced by and pays homage to Jean Cocteau, utilizing many of his simple camera techniques (elegant and mysterious if done artfully .. or if performed clumsily will look like hack work): slow-motion, reverse motion, on-set trickery (like actors dressed and built into the set as living magical statues). Like Cocteau's fantasies, Demy has achieved a poetic level here. His use of color is glorious -- the strong Blues that dominate *everything* in the Blue Kingdom (or the Red color scheme for the Red Kingdom) -- and the shift to All-White in the finale -- dresses that illuminate their own light or have moving clouds projected upon them -- the fairy god-mother whose dress changes color on a whim -- the great contrast of all-red horses and riders traveling through a vibrant green wood -- a hovel which magically flickers, dressed by dozens of strobe lights. And this is an excellent cast. The young Catherine Deneuve is of course perfect for a fairy-tale princess. Delphine Seyrig steals all her scenes as the Fairy Godmother. Jean Marais is a natural for the King (and as an old favorite of Cocteau's, adds another link to that fantastic universe). Jacques Perrin is an ideal Prince Charming. The music and songs by Michel Legrand is very good and has a bittersweet tinge to it. I love the musical sequence of the princess directing herself on how to bake a cake. Split in two she both reads the recipe (filthy and dressed in her loathsome donkey skin) and also performs the task (dressed beautifully with a crown). It theatrically represents how the Mind itself works, showing intention and will. There are other moments like this which SHOULD be iconic. Like the burial of the beloved queen who is placed in a large crystal sphere and left in an open field, presumably to never decay. Like the cranky old hag who expectorates live toads. Like the boat ride at the end of the couple's duet, drifting down a stream and fading away ephemerally.
lasttimeisaw
I didn't conceive a high expectation towards this film, however it turned out to be really bad, maybe it a hint for me to eschew French films for a while? The fairytale of princess Donkey Skin, which I vaguely remember hearing before (of course during my childhood), but in the film, it boldly appropriated an incestuous background to back up the preposition of the flee of the princess under the disguise of the donkey skin, which one could only imagine French people was able to accomplish it. I don't mind the adaptation, but it failed to provide any potent vigor to the film, which is a major blunder. The latter part of the film is a well-worn Cinderella story while shoes are substituted by a more convenient item, a ring, and the process of all the maidens' trial of the ring is rather long and cumbrous, luckily the film only lasts 90 minutes, otherwise, I might not have the patience to finish it. (Nevertheless, the sudden landing of the helicopter in the end of the film is a definite an eye-opener, one could never underestimate the absurd imagination from French.)Let me think harder, at least the costumes and settings of the film are novel at that time, which sadly cannot save the film from a childish and reckless potboiler. My only consolation is that I could watch the marquee Catherine Deneuve in her most splendid time. Finally I have to mention its theme song (trust me, it's a musical film indeed), under an influence after whose multiple and redundant appearances, it has been ironed inside my brain deeply (l' amour, l'amour......); by comparison, I prefer the song by Delphine Seyrig (the fairy-godmother) in the film, who at least gave a more non-wooden and slightly comic performance.
Sandcooler
Talking flowers, red horses, bizarre musical numbers and a girl walking around in a donkey carcass, this is my kind of movie. The great prince may look more like a glam rocker than anything else, and the plot may not make a lick of sense, but it's still a pretty magical tale. Many of the scenes are rather surreal, and some scenes look like the entire crew just broke out of rehab, but if anything that just makes the movie more exciting. As for content, it's just weird. It's a classic love story, but it's told in such a peculiar way that for the most part I just stared blankly and pointed at the screen. Still, it's a very entertaining movie. Also comes with the most surprising helicopter appearance in movie history.
angelmpb
I saw this movie for the first time in the movies when I was a little girl. I never forgot it, I never forgot the main song. For years I tried to find it in the video stores, I wish it was released in DVD. This is a cult-fantasy movie and deserves to be more available to the general public. Nowadays the "fantasy" movies have a lot of silliness and disgusting behavior due to lack of imagination of new filmmakers. Movies like Peau d'ane should not be forgotten and should be re-released so the new generation can learn to appreciate true art. Catherine Deneuve is in the top of her beauty in this movie, the clothes are wonderful, the music unforgettable.