Donkey Skin Reviews

(MU) Provocative fantasy ends somehow in some part of the film, and the story imposes its romantic classicism, fairytale with happy conventional ending. Semi musical, semi fantasy, semi achieved...

Since I'm a big fan of Catherine Deneuve, I was really curious about this flick. I must admit, she seemed to be a perfect choice to play a princess and she was indeed just mesmerizing. Furthermore, the costumes and set dressing were also pretty good. The story is a very famous fairytale in France and I guess it was a rather faithful adaptation but, honestly, I must say that I was rather bored during the whole thing. I mean, it looked good and Catherine Deneuve was quite amazing but there was nothing much going on, I’m afraid. To be honest, I have watched the two major classics directed by Jacques Demy (‘Les Parapluies de Cherbourg’ and ‘Les Demoiselles de Rocherfort’ both also starring Catherine Deneuve) and even though I enjoyed them slightly more than this movie, they didn’t really blow me away either so I guess I just don’t really like this kind of movies. Indeed, I have always had a hard time enjoying musicals and when they are rather whimsical like this one, it is even more hopeless. Still, to be fair, it was not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in French movies.