Family Fun Saturday - Donkey Skin (Peu D'Ane)

Cinema International Corporation, 1970

Starring Catherine Denveuve, Jean Maris, Jacques Perrin, and Delphine Seyrig

Directed by Jacques Demy

Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Jacques Demy

Jacques Demy's first two musicals The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort were huge international hits, but for his third musical, he went with something a little less prosaic. Having done a bleak drama in Hollywood that didn't go over well, he returned to France for a full-on fantasy. This adaptation of a Charles Perrault fairy tale went over far better in France, where it was one of the bigger hits of 1970. Does it retain the same magic today? Let's begin with the introduction of the Blue King (Maris), his lovely wife (Denveuve), and their beautiful and gentle daughter (Denveuve) and find out...

The Story: After his wife dies, the King is encouraged to find a new wife and produce an heir. The queen insisted that he marry someone even lovelier than her...and the only person he can find is his daughter. On the advice of her godmother the Lilac Fairy (Seyrig), she holds her father off by asking for dresses the color of a good weather day, the moon, and the sun. She then demands that he kill and skin the magical donkey who has been excreting jewels and coins for him. The Fairy gives the princess her wand and a trunk with the three gowns, then covers her in dirt and wraps her in the donkey skin.

Fleeing her father's kingdom in this disguise, she manages to find a job as a pig keeper and a little hut in the woods. The prince of the kingdom (Perrin) sees her in the hut and falls so much in love with her, he becomes literally lovesick. He begs that Donkey Skin be told to bake a cake that will restore his health. She bakes her ring into it, proving her love for him. All the women in the kingdom are called to see if the ring fits their finger. No one thinks it could fit Donkey Skin, but the prince has his suspicions...

The Song and Dance: Like Demy, I've always been fascinated by fairy tales. The original version of this story comes off as rather dour. After all, it does involve incest and death. Demy manages to make all this sweet, whimsical, and even playful. Perrin and Denveuve are a charming royal couple, and Seyrig is hilarious as the Lilac Fairy who has her own reasons for keeping the princess from marrying her father. 

The production is nothing less than stunning, with the two kingdoms dressed in all cobalt blue and scarlet red. Even the faces of the couriers are blue and red. The costumes are acres of puffs, ruffles, and bows, with puffed sleeves that dwarfs the actors' heads. Gorgeous cinematography too. Real French castles and the actual French countryside glow like those incredible sun and moon gowns. 

The Numbers: We open with "Amour, Amour" performed on the piano by the princess as we're introduced to her family, the blue kingdom, and the magical donkey. The Lilac Fairy explains why it's a bad idea for a princess to marry her father in "Conselis de la Fee des Lilas." Our first chorus number has the peasants throwing "Les Insultes" at Donkey Skin for being so dirty and different. 

"Chanson du Prince" is the Prince's song when he sees her at the hut. The princess explains about her plan to put the ring in the cake in "Recette Pour un Cake D'Amour." The Prince and Princess dream of rebelling against their parents and being together in "Reves Secrets d'un Prince et d'une Princesse." The last number is also the second chorus routine. Every woman in town tries to make her finger slender enough to fit that ring in "Les Massage des Doights."

What I Don't Like: First of all, same deal as Demy's other movies. There's no dubbed version of this. If you don't speak French and aren't willing to use subtitles, you may have a hard time understanding a lot of what's going on. Second, while the incest subtext isn't pushed too hard, it is there. The original version of this story was a lot darker. In some versions (including the short "Sapsorrow" from Jim Henson's The Storyteller), the father dies in the end. Some details border on goofy for silliness' sake, like the Lilac Fairy and Blue King turning up in a very anachronistic helicopter in the end.

The Big Finale: Highly recommended for families with pre-teen princess lovers who are willing to read a few subtitles or those who love French cinema or who are big fairy tale fans like me. 

Home Media: Only on disc in the US as part of a pricey Jacques Demy blu-ray set from the Criterion Collection. You may be better off streaming this one.

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The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort)

Comacico, 1967

Starring Catherine Denveuve, Francoise Dorleac, George Chakaris, and Gene Kelly

Directed by Jacques Demy

Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Jacques Demy

After the massive success of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Demy went back to the musical form for something far lighter. This time, he borrowed from classic American musical film, even using two of its stars, Kelly and Chakaris. Danielle Darrieux, who played Denveuve and Dorleac's mother, had also done several Hollywood musicals. How does this effervescent story of two sisters who fall in love during their seaside town's spring fair look today? Let's begin with the caravan of carnival barkers and performers as they dance and drive their way to Rochefort and find out...

The Story: Twins Delphine (Denveuve) and Solange (Dorleac) Garnier run a small ballet school in Rochefort, but what they really want is to try their wings as a dancer and composer in Paris. Delphine is also hoping to meet the man she's been dreaming about there...and so is Maxence (Jacques Perrin), a sailor just out of the Navy who wants to become an artist. Solange eventually falls for American dancer Andy Miller (Kelly) after she encounters him while picking up her little brother Booboo (Patrick Jeantet) from school. 

The girls agree to dance for carnival barkers Etienne (Chakaris) and Bill (Grover Dale) after their original dancers run off with sailors. They're hoping it will lead the guys to take them to Paris after the Carnival ends. Delphine is also hoping to avoid her obnoxious and egotistical ex-boyfriend Gulliaume Lancien (Jacques Riberoles), who is more interested in making money than being in love with her. There's also Simon Dame (Michel Piccoli), the owner of the music shop where Solange works...and whose description of the woman who loved him but couldn't stand his last named and walked away with his children. Madame Garnier's description off her ex sounds mighty familiar, too....

The Song and Dance: This is a gorgeous movie with an excellent performance by Catherine Denveuve, and stunning use of color...and that's about where the resemblance to Umbrellas ends. Unlike through-sung Umbrellas, this is a more traditional musical that thrives on its dance sequences. We see people dancing before we hear a word of dialogue or anyone singing. The dances are everywhere, among everyone from basketball players to lovers on the street. They inform everything that everyone does, and their energy really keeps the movie hopping. 

The lovely colors here are warm and airy pastels rather than the dark, saturated shades of Umbrellas, but they're just as pretty to look at. We get a good mix of French and American sensibilities, with the two male dancers and Kelly giving this the feel of an especially elegant MGM production of a decade before. Dorleac matches her real-life sister Denveuve as the slightly more practical sister, while Darrieux and Piccoli are fine aging lovers who don't realize their sweethearts have been in the same town all along and Perrin is a strapping sailor-turned-artist.

The Numbers: We open before a word has been sung with Etienne, Bill, and the other carnival performers doing two lively group dances on the pier done to the instrumental "The Ferry Bridge" and "Arrival of the Truckers Ballet" as they prepare to cross the Bay of Biscay. After they cross the Bay, we move to "The Ballet Lesson" and see the twins teaching their young charges. What they really want to do is move to Paris and pursue their passions as they explain what "A Pair of Twins" can do. 

We first meet Maxence at their mother's cafe as he explains why "You Must Believe In Spring" and he believes in his dream of the perfect girl. "From Delphine to Lancien" is Delphine explaining why she no longer wants to continue seeing Guilliame. Etienne and Bill tell their girls that "We Travel From City to City," but they're far from impressed. "Simon's Song" and "Yvonne's Song" gives us their not-so-different views on why she left him over his name. Delphine reprises "Must Believe In Spring" as she explains her own dream lover. "Andy In Love" is Kelly's number after he meets Solange and finds the pages she lost from her concerto. 

Bill manages to get the girls to dance for them with "Sailors, Friends, Lovers, and Husbands" as the girls explain they have none of the above. Having returned to the cafe, Maxence once again talks about his dream lover with his reprise of "Must Believe In Spring." "Solange's Song" talks about her desire to become a great composer. She and Delphine talk about what will happen when they go "From Hamburg to Rochefort" and reprise "Pair of Twins." Their mother sings of "Lola Lola."

"The Basketball Ballet" takes us to the carnival as we see a basketball team practice before the crowd. "Woman Cut to Pieces" and "The Meetings" are instrumental dance numbers for Delphine's dance troupe and a group of chorus dancers in the town square. "Andy's Song" gives him a dance routine and a chance to admit his feelings for Solange. "Kermesee" is Bill and Etienne's number as they leap around their motorcycle onstage. Dressed to kill in fire-engine red, the twins dance to a sultry "Summer Day Song," with Solange a bit more awkward than a delighted Delphine. When Bill and Etienne admit they love them, the girls say men "Always Never" will respect them and their feelings. "The Concert Ballet" brings Solange and Andy together in a pas de deux bathed in white, while the film ends with "The Fairground Departure Ballet" as people clean up and the townspeople rejoice in their new relationships and "The Truckers Departure Finale."

Trivia: Sadly, this was Dorleac's second-to-last film. She died in a car accident in Nice three months after the movie's release. 

Apparently, the English language version of this seen in the US wasn't a hit, which may be why it's even harder to find than the one for Umbrellas of Cherbourg today. The soundtrack and two video clips are all that remain of it.

What I Don't Like: The music is as charming and bubbly as the film, but while "A Pair of Twins" wound up being a hit, I don't think the songs are quite up to the haunting score from Umbrellas of Cherbourg. This is a more traditional musical, with numbers between spoken interludes. Those who are looking for something more experimental and less dance-heavy will want to go elsewhere or back to Umbrellas. And same caveat from Umbrellas applies here. If you don't speak French and don't want to use subtitles, you may have a hard time understanding what's going on. 

The Big Finale: That said, while I think Umbrellas is the slightly better film, both of these movies are definitely must-sees for their lovely scores, stunning use of color, delightful performances, and in the case of this one, fabulous dancing. Check these out this holiday season with your sweetheart or your favorite sister. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming, the former from the Criterion Collection.

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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg)

American International Pictures, 1964

Starring Catherine Denueve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, and Marc Michel

Directed by Jacques Demy

Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Jacques Demy

This week, we take a holiday trip to France in the 1960's with our first two reviews. Umbrellas was Demy's third film and first of three musicals. He made copious use of the new Eastman color stock to turn the real-life French town of Cherbourg into a riot of color, light, and shadows, giving the story of two young lovers parted by fate and circumstance a melancholy fairy-tale feel. How does the story of a mechanic and the daughter of the owner of the title shop look now? Let's begin with bright umbrellas in the rain showing off those eye-catching primary colors and find out...

The Story: Genevieve Emery (Denueve) is passionately in love with Guy Foucher (Castelnuovo), a mechanic in Cherboug. Her mother Madame Emery (Vernon) believes they're too young to wed, as Genevieve is only 17. Guy lives with his aging Aunt Elise (Mirrelle Perrey) and her caretaker Madeline (Ellen Farner), who has a crush on him. Genevieve is devastated when Guy is called to the Algerian War. She writes him constantly, but after a while, his letters become fewer. Her mother finally convinces her to wed handsome young diamond merchant Roland Cassard (Michel) after they discover she's pregnant. 

Meanwhile, Guy returns home from the war and takes to drinking after he learns his beloved has married another and his aunt has died. Madeline is happy to be there for him and to take care of him. Even though their lives eventually take very different paths, when they encounter each other again one cold, snowy Christmas night, Guy and Genevieve can't help but wonder what would have had happened if things were different...

The Song and Dance: This is one of the most breathtaking musical films I've ever seen. Bless everyone who restored the Eastman color negatives, because they did a sensational job. The color almost literally pops off the screen, blasts of scarlet, shocking pink, olive green, and robin's egg blue. Genevieve and Guy wander through a fairy tale France where umbrellas come in every color of the rainbow, Christmas Eve is pure white, and even little shops and gas stations are a riot of primary hues. The performances are magnificent, too, despite everyone being dubbed. Denveuve is so radiant and heartbreaking, she became an international star after her performance here. Castelnuovo and Vernon nearly match her as her adored mechanic sweetheart with big ambitions and her mother who just wants to see her and the shop taken care of.

The Numbers: This is more-or-less an opera. Every note is sung-through, making it hard to separate songs the way you would for a regular musical. Two songs in particular became standards. "Recit De Cassard," Roland's solo when he's explaining his difficulty courting women to Genevieve and her mother, would be translated into English as "Watch What Happens." Guy and Genevieve's theme that runs throughout their numbers became the Oscar-nominated "I Will Wait for You" in English.

Trivia: The building that stood in for the umbrella shop still exists in Cherbourg today. It's currently marked with a plaque that commemorates the film.

When Roland Cassard tells Madame Emory he once loved a woman named Lola, he's referring to Demy's previous comedy Lola, where Michel played the same character. 

Madame Demy wasn't kidding when she referred to how young Genevieve was. Denveuve was only 19 during filming. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, the English-language dub for this is extremely rare today. If you don't speak French or aren't willing to use subtitles, you may have a hard time with the lyrics. Second, this is not a feel-good musical. It's a bittersweet melodrama with a relatively unhappy ending. If you're not in the mood for a sad love story, this isn't for you, no matter how pretty it is to look at. 

The Big Finale: One of the most exquisitely gorgeous musical films ever created. Highly recommended for musical lovers, romantics, fans of the French New Wave, and those who either speak French, have a passing acquaintance with the language like me, or are willing to use subtitles. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming. The Blu-Ray is from the Criterion Collection, and even the DVD (which I've seen) has a marvelous transfer.

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