Donkey Skin

The enchanting, provocative fairy tale Donkey Skin reunites director Jacques Demy, actor Catherine Deneuve, and composer Michel Legrand. (The three talents worked together on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the first film in this series.) Based on a 17th-century French fairy tale, Donkey Skin tells an enchanting and psychologically provocative story. A widowed king (Jean Marais) searches for a beautiful woman to make his second wife, only to discover her in the exact image of his first wife: their daughter, played by Catherine Deneuve.

Horrified, Deneuve disguises her beauty beneath a donkey skin, and flees to a village to escape her fate. At once melancholy and lyrical (with a Michel Legrand score), it's a fable brought to the screen with the delicacy and color of a classic children's storybook. With Delphine Seyrig as the "lilac fairy," and Jacques Perrin. (90 mins.)


support credits

The 2004ñ05 film/video season is presented with support from the Rohauer Collection Foundation and the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation.

Contemporary films, international films, and visiting filmmakers are presented with support from the Ohio Arts Council.