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
