Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed & Written by: Jacques Demy. Produced by: Mag Bodard. Director of Photography: Ghislain Cloquet. Edited by: Anne-Marie Cotret. Music by: Michel Legrand. Released by: Koch Lorber. Language: French with English subtitles. Country of Origin: France. 100 min. Not Rated. With: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Jacques Perrin & Delphine Seyrig.
Jacques Demy's musical and fanciful adaptation of Charles Perrault's fairy tale is a
picture book come to life. A king (Jean Marais, a different kind of brute here than in
Beauty and the Beast) promises his dying queen (Catherine Deneuve) to
remarry only a woman more beautiful than she. Because the state needs a male heir,
the King's men look far and wide for a new wife. The only eligible woman, however,
already lives under the King's roof - his daughter (also played by Deneuve, the epitome
of a beautiful, blond princess if there ever was one). Wanting to obey her father, yet
confused by his proposal, she calls upon her sophisticated and vain fairy godmother
(Delphine Seyrig) in an enchanted forest. Her guardian admonishes, "Don't cry child, it
will make you ugly." With her magical assistance, the princess escapes from her
father's castle, disguised as a scullery maid wearing a smelly donkey skin. Ostracized by nearby villagers, she lives alone in a shack soon to be
discovered by a charming prince (Jacques Perrin). Michel Legrand's score swoons,
but without the depth and variation of his wistful arrangement for The Umbrellas of
Cherbourg. This film is also nowhere near as romantic or emotionally captivating.
But it is much lighter on its feet than Legrand/Demy's The Young Girls of
Rochefort. In her third musical collaboration with Demy, (after Umbrellas and
Young Girls), Deneuve coasts on her beauty, which is really all the role has to
offer. The real stars are the eye-popping sets, costumes (both are trippy, mod medieval
chic), and cinematography. The crisp colors jump out of the screen in this newly
restored print. The film's look and special effects (especially a frog-spitting old hag)
would certainly hold the attention of young girls, despite a pace that is much more
leisurely than contemporary films. They will also be drawn in by the romantic fantasy as
the young prince goes on the search for a beautiful bride. Parents, though, might bristle
because of the emphasis on physical beauty. Kent Turner
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