Lucien Frégis Movies
Originally titled Peau D'Ane, Jacques Demy's Dos Cruces en Danger Pass is better known by its English-language title Donkey Skin. Based on a fairy tale by Charles Perrault (of Cinderella fame), the bizarre story concerns the king (Jean Marais) of a strange, enchanted land. Catherine Deneuve plays the dual role of the king's wife and daughter. When the wife dies, she makes the king promise that he'll never marry anyone less beautiful than she; thus, he is compelled to wed his own daughter! The fairy godmother (Delphine Seyrig) tries to save the girl from this incestuous fate by telling her to make impossible demands for her wedding gifts. One such demand is for the skin of a magic donkey which deposits valuable jewels in its compost heaps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, (more)
- 1963
The quest for love gets a farcical French treatment in this lighthearted romp, the sophomore directorial effort from writer and star Pierre Etaix. Etaix plays Pierre, a shy youth under pressure from his mother to find a nice girl and settle down. In order to appease her, Pierre proposes marriage to his family's Swedish student boarder, whose poor grasp of French leads to a misunderstanding. Believing that he has been rejected, Pierre commences trying to find the right woman for him. After an abortive assignation with a seductive one-night stand, Pierre becomes obsessed with a popular actress he spots on television. Collecting all the memorabilia he can find associated with the woman, the love-struck Pierre even buys an engagement ring, but when he tracks down the object of his affection, he is surprised to find that she is old enough to be his mother. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Etaix, Laurence Ligneres, (more)
Five years after his first appearance, Jacques Tati's M. Hulot returns with Mon Oncle, a film set along the dividing line between Paris' past and its future. Aligned (as is the film) with the former, Hulot lives in a colorful, overpopulated Parisian neighborhood and, lacking employment, spends his days waiting to pick up his adoring nephew from school, and subsequently escorting him to his parents' ultra-modern house. Filled with gadgets, some turned on only to impress the neighbors, the house seems designed specifically to frustrate Hulot, who unwittingly disrupts its operations at every opportunity. Concerned about his future, Hulot's relatives attempt to find him gainful employment and pair him off with a neighbor, with little success on either front. The nearly dialogue-free film is less concerned with the family's attempts as they relate to an overall plot, and more interested in how they play into its overall scheme of contrasts and allow for Tati's unmistakable sight-and-sound gag set pieces. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, (more)
Already familiar to many, especially following his acclaimed directorial debut Jour De Fete, Jacques Tati came into his own and reached new levels of popularity with 1953's Les Vacances De Monsieur Hulot. The first film to introduce his much-loved alter ego Monsieur Hulot, it sets the pattern for future appearances of the character, throwing the bumbling hero unwittingly into the middle of the action and letting the ensuing mishaps provoke humor ranging from gentle observations to fairly biting satire. The setting this time is a stuffy resort community fond of the peace and quiet that Hulot interrupts without fail. Nearly dialogue-free and driven more by episode than plot (like all of the Hulot films), standout set pieces include a disrupted funeral, an interrupted game of cards, and -- one of Tati's signature bits -- a game of tennis played with rules that can politely be called unconventional. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, (more)
