Peau d'âne

Once upon a time a long, long time ago, there was a king who lived with his wife and daughter in a magnificent palace. One day, the queen felt her death drawing near and so she sent for her husband. On her deathbed, the queen made the king promise that, should he one day marry again, the woman he chose to lead to the altar would be more beautiful than the queen herself. With these words, the queen died. The king’s counsellors were at a loss. They could only think of one person who could be considered to meet the queen’s wishes, for the only person more beautiful than the queen was the queen’s daughter, the princess.
The princess was deeply distraught when she heard what her father’s advisers were suggesting. Her godmother, however, advised the princess to make impossible demands of her suitor’s representatives. And so the princess asked them for three gowns: one the colour of the sky, one the colour of the moon and one the colour of the sun. Finally, she requested the skin of a magic donkey which would fill the state coffers every morning with gold and diamonds. But when even these wishes were fulfilled, the princess had no choice but to flee, dressed in the donkey skin, to a country far away where she found work as a kitchen maid. But princesses are not born to work in the kitchen and so the day came when a prince rode past the pretty maid’s window.
Demy’s film will be shown in a version which was restored and given a Dolby stereo soundtrack in 2003.