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Category:    Home > Reviews > Musical > Operetta > Donkey Skin (Musical/Operetta)

Donkey Skin (Musical/Operetta)

 

Picture: B     Sound: B-     Extras: C+     Film: B

 

 

Only the French could possible pull off something like Donkey Skin, and none other than director Jacques Demy, who would team up here with Catherine Deneuve after their success The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (reviewed on this site) and The Young Girls of Rochefort.  Donkey Skin (1971) is a variation on the classic Cinderella fairy tale from author Charles Perrault, but with charm and a mixture of reality and fantasy like no other. 

 

With gorgeous costumes and spectacular sets it works almost like a play, but executed to its fullest cinematic performance.  Deneuve plays the princess whose father (Jean Marais) who is attempting to marry her after he makes the promise to his dying wife that he will only remarry a woman more beautiful than she was.  Now, you might think that he would step a few feet away from the family tree on this one, but that wouldn’t make the story as interesting as this.  So in her panic, as can be expected, she vamooses to the to a farm nearby in the donkey skin from her fathers prize collection and tries to hide out as a maid.  However, romance is abounding as a prince soon sweeps that area and the rest is somewhat obvious.

 

Koch Lorber has done some really great work with this particular film, along with the work they did on Umbrellas, but I think this one received even better treatment.  The film has been restored and that was done under the supervision of yet another wacky French director Agnes Varda, also known for making interesting films like Cleo From 5-7, Vagabond, and also a film about the life of Jacques Demy, simply called The World of Jacques Demy (which is partially included in the extras).  Because of this supervision the film can be seen with a good approximation of the right colors, which is certainly the highlight here!  While there are instances of softness and detail being a bit less sharp than necessary the real treat is the colors, which I will always take over the other categories.  Flesh tones seem natural and the color palette is just scrumptious. 

 

The 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 image looks good and is anamorphically enhanced here as well, while the Dolby 5.1 remix is interesting to say the least and the problems I had with it as well as the praises I had are on par with my comments for Umbrellas of Cherbourg.  The extras are a bit light as most of them are not very in-depth including some illustrations and interviews, photo montage, and the theatrical trailer.  Given that the film looks quite good and there are some extras sprinkled on I would give this a nice recommendation for something out of the ordinary to add to any collection, especially for those that enjoy costume pieces and variations on fables.

 

 

-   Nate Goss


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