LA CAGE AUX FOLLES Movie Review
Birds of a Feather
When it began life 20 years ago it was called daring; now it feels indestructible enough to call it an old war horse. A comedy about the intrinsic humor of gender and role-playing in society, as well as the true meaning of “family values,” La Cage aux Folles is also a sure-fire, old-fashioned French farce of mixed-up identities and slamming doors, freshly fitted out in drag. In case you don't know, Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) is the gay owner of a notorious cross-dressers' nightclub in the south of France. One of the club's veteran performers, the flamboyantly effeminate Albin (Michel Serrault), has been Renato's lover for decades. A married couple for all intents and purposes, they even have a son (Renato's from an earlier fling), but the plot's ringer is that the son has announced his engagement—not to just any girl, but to the daughter of the secretary-general of the “Union of Moral Order.” The upshot: Renato has to pretend to be heterosexual when the prospective in-laws visit, and Albin ends up posing as the mother, which becomes a big problem when the boy's real mother shows up. Predictably well-orchestrated chaos ensues. La Cage aux Folles became a word-of-mouth hit in its initial New York engagement, and settled in to run—seemingly—forever. It may not have been quite as big in some of the smaller markets of the heartland, but La Cage aux Folles' structure is so sure-fire and sentimental that it's perceived as non-threatening by all but the most resistant audiences. Tognazzi and Serrault make an inspired couple, and with the exception of a few lumpy expository sections, the whole, big, whirling machine zips harmlessly along, creaking loudly on occasion, but never quite breaking down. Édouard Molinaro directed from a screenplay he coauthored with Francis Veber, Marcello Danon, and Jean Poiret, who wrote the play on which it was based. It spawned a sequel (La Cage aux Folles II), a Broadway musical (La Cage aux Folles), and an American remake (The Birdcage) directed by Mike Nichols and starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
NEXT STOP … La Cage aux Folles II, To Be or Not to Be (1942), Pain in the A**
1978 (R) 91m/C FR Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault, Michel Galabru, Claire Maurier, Remy Laurent, Benny Luke; D: Edouard Molinaro; W: Edouard Molinaro, Francis Veber, Jean Poiret; C: Armando Nannuzzi; M: Ennio Morricone. Cesar Awards '79: Best Actor (Serrault); Golden Globe Awards '80: Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards '79: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Director (Molinaro). VHS, LV MGM, FOX, CRC