Peau D'ane

"Peau d'ane," où "Donkeyskin," is another wonderful and strange movie by Jacques Demy. I love Agnes Varda more, but her husband was such a luminary too, and so different. So much is painted blue in this movie. (Literally.) It's pretty great. It is based on a fairy tale and fully leans into the onirique and psychological aspects that fairy tales are so good at. It's about a king (played by Cocteau muse Jean Marais) whose wife dies and he comes to the very normal conclusion that her only possible replacement as queen is... their daughter. Of course he does, they're both played by Catherine Deneuve.

Cat throne alert 

Demy's movies are so colorful and often musical, and this one is no different. It's over-the-top colorful and doesn't shy away from the creepiness and darkness, but there's also a Prince Charming. And of course a donkey who, um, drops jewels; a fairy godmother who looks like an awesome flapper and whom we first meet while she's doing her nails; and a helicopter. It all works. This movie was a massive hit and it is completely understandable why. It's delightful with a frisson of dark and weird, like all the best of his movies.

"A battery? What's that?" indeed. The Lilac Fairy is the best character!