''La Cage aux folles'' (, English: "The Cage of Madwomen"; also released as ''Birds of a Feather'') is a 1978
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Édouard Molinaro
Édouard Molinaro (13 May 1928 – 7 December 2013) was a French film director and screenwriter.
Biography
He was born in Bordeaux, Gironde.
He is best known for his comedies with Louis de Funès (''Oscar'', '' Hibernatus''), '' My Uncle B ...
, based on
Jean Poiret's 1973
play of the same name. It stars
Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter.
Early life
Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a travelling clerk fo ...
and
Michel Serrault
Michel Serrault (24 January 1928 – 29 July 2007) was a French stage and film actor who appeared from 1954 until 2007 in more than 130 films.
Life and career
His first professional job was in a touring production in Germany of Molière's '' Les ...
as a gay couple operating a
drag nightclub in a French resort town,
Rémi Laurent as the former's son, and
Michel Galabru
Michel Louis Edmond Galabru (27 October 19224 January 2016) was a French actor.
Career
Galabru appeared in more than 250 films and worked with directors such as Bertrand Blier, Costa-Gavras, Luc Besson (for '' Subway''), and Jean-Luc Godard. ...
and
Carmen Scarpitta
Carmen Scarpitta (26 May 1933 – 26 April 2008) was an Italian stage and film actress. She appeared in 30 films between 1960 and 2001.
Scarpitta was born in Hollywood, California. She debuted on stage in 1960 in Alessandro Manzoni's ''Adel ...
as his new fiancée's ultra-conservative parents. The French-language picture was a Franco-Italian co-production by
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
. This was the first film adaptation of Poiret's play, which was later adapted into the 1996 American film ''
The Birdcage
''The Birdcage'' is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, adapted by Elaine May, and starring Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, and Dianne Wiest. Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski app ...
''.
The film was released in Italy on October 20, 1978 and in France on October 25. It was a considerable commercial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing foreign-language films released in the United States of all time. It won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...
and was nominated for three
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
:
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
(Molinaro),
Best Adapted Screenplay, and
Best Costume Design. Michel Serrault won the
César Award for Best Actor
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Actor (french: César du meilleur acteur).
History
Superlatives
Winners 1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple wins and nominations
The following indiv ...
. It was followed by two sequels, with Tognazzi, Serrault, and Galabru reprising their roles.
Plot
Like the play upon which it is based, the film tells the story of a middle-aged
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
couple – Renato Baldi, the manager of a
Saint-Tropez
, INSEE = 83119
, postal code = 83990
, image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Saint-Tropez-A (Var).svg
, image flag=Flag of Saint-Tropez.svg
Saint-Tropez (; oc, Sant Tropetz, ; ) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence-Al ...
nightclub featuring
drag entertainment, and Albin Mougeotte, his star attraction – and the madness that ensues when Renato's son Laurent brings home his fiancée Andrea and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.
Cast
Production
Exterior filming was on-location in
Saint-Tropez
, INSEE = 83119
, postal code = 83990
, image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Saint-Tropez-A (Var).svg
, image flag=Flag of Saint-Tropez.svg
Saint-Tropez (; oc, Sant Tropetz, ; ) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence-Al ...
and
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, while interiors were shot at Dear Film and
Cinecitta Studios in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, Italy.
Reception
Box office
, ''La Cage aux Folles'' has remained the no. 11 foreign-language film released in the United States of America. The film was the second highest-grossing film of the year in France with 5,406,614 admissions. In Germany, it received 2.65 million admissions, making it the 11th highest-grossing film of the year.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 95% rating based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 7.82/10. The site's consensus reads: "''La Cage aux Folles'' is a fine French-Italian farce with flamboyant, charming characters and deep laughs".
Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that "the comic turns in the plot are achieved with such clockwork timing that sometimes we're laughing at what's funny and sometimes we're just laughing at the movie's sheer comic invention. This is a great time at the movies."
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
of ''The New York Times'' wrote in a negative review that the film "is naughty in the way of comedies that pretend to be sophisticated but actually serve to reinforce the most popular conventions and most witless stereotypes." Gene Siskel of the ''Chicago Tribune'' gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "For me, 'La Cage aux Folles' was over soon after it began. It's all so predictable. This could have been a
Luci
Luci is an English feminine given name variant of Lucy and an Italian surname derived from the Latin personal name Lucius (from Latin '' Lux'', genitive ''Lucis'', meaning "light"). Luci is also an ancient Norman territorial surname derived from ...
&
Desi DESI may refer to
* Desorption electrospray ionization
* Drug Efficacy Study Implementation
* Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
See also
* Desi (disambiguation)
Desi or Deshi is a self-referential term used by South Asian people.
Desi may al ...
comedy routine. The film's only distinctive quality is the skill of its veteran actors in working with tired material." Kevin Thomas of the ''Los Angeles Times'' called the film "a frequently hilarious French variation on ''
Norman, Is That You?'' and has the same broad humor and appeal but has been put over with considerably more aplomb." Gary Arnold of ''The Washington Post'' panned the film for "stale, excruciating sex jokes" and direction that "has evidently failed to devise a playing rhythm to compensate for whatever farcical tempo the material enjoyed on the stage."
David McGillivray of ''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' described the film as "a crude amalgam of ''Norman, Is That You?'' and
John Bowen's play ''Trevor'' ... All shrieks, mincing and limp wrists, ''La Cage aux folles'' also looks positively antiquated beside the sophisticated gay comedy of such as
Craig Russell."
Awards and nominations
Legacy
Sequels
The film was followed by two sequels: ''
La Cage aux Folles II
''La Cage aux Folles II'' is a 1980 French comedy film and the sequel to 1978's '' La Cage aux Folles''. It is directed by Édouard Molinaro and stars Michel Serrault as Albin (stage name ZaZa), the female impersonator star of a gay night-club re ...
'' (1980), also directed by Molinaro, and ''
La Cage aux folles 3 - 'Elles' se marient'' (1985), directed by
Georges Lautner
Georges Lautner (; 24 January 1926 – 22 November 2013) was a French film director and screenwriter, known primarily for his comedies created in collaboration with screenwriter Michel Audiard.
Lautner's ventures into other genres were less ...
.
Musical adaptation
The 1983 Broadway musical ''
La Cage aux Folles'' based on the play and the film was also successful.
American remake
In 1996, an American remake titled ''
The Birdcage
''The Birdcage'' is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, adapted by Elaine May, and starring Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, and Dianne Wiest. Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski app ...
'', directed by
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...
and written by
Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with her ...
, was released, relocated to
South Beach and stars
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...
and
Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...
.
Mentions
''La Cage Aux Folles'' is mentioned in the 1993 teen comedy movie ''
Anything for Love
''Anything for Love'' is a 1993 direct-to-video teen comedy film directed by Michael Keusch and starring Corey Haim and Nicole Eggert. It was aired on television in the United States as ''Just One of the Girls''.
Plot
Summer is over and 16-year ...
'', a.k.a. ''Just One of the Girls''. When the PE teacher finds out the main character is a boy dressing as a girl, she says "I thought you were gay. Not auditioning for ''La Cage Aux Folles''."
''Adam and Yves''
''La Cage aux Folles'' caught the attention of television producer
Danny Arnold
Danny Arnold (born Arnold Rothmann; January 23, 1925 – August 19, 1995) was an American producer, writer, comedian, actor and director known for producing ''Barney Miller'', ''That Girl'', and ''Bewitched''.
Early life
Born in New York City, ...
, who in 1979 pitched the concept of a weekly series about a gay couple similar to the one in the film to ABC. His planned title was ''Adam and Yves'', a play on both
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
and a slogan used by some anti-gay groups. After months in development, Arnold realized that the concept was unsustainable as a weekly series, which led to the show getting dropped.
[Tropiano, p. 252]
References
Literature
*
External links
*
*
*
''La Cage aux Folles: Folles Family Values''an essay by
David Ehrenstein
David Ehrenstein (born February 18, 1947) is an American critic who focuses primarily on gay issues in cinema.
Life and career
Ehrenstein was born in New York City. His father was a Jew with Polish ancestors, and his mother was half-black and ha ...
at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cage Folles 1978
1978 films
1970s French-language films
1970s Italian-language films
1978 LGBT-related films
1970s multilingual films
1970s sex comedy films
French LGBT-related films
French sex comedy films
French multilingual films
Italian multilingual films
Italian sex comedy films
Italian LGBT-related films
Homophobia in fiction
Films about anti-LGBT sentiment
Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe winners
Commedia all'italiana
Cross-dressing in film
Films scored by Ennio Morricone
French films based on plays
Films directed by Édouard Molinaro
Films featuring a Best Actor César Award-winning performance
Gay-related films
LGBT-related sex comedy films
1978 comedy films
Drag (clothing)-related films
Films shot in Rome
Films shot in Nice
Films shot in Saint-Tropez
Films set in Saint-Tropez
Films shot at Cinecittà Studios
1970s Italian films
1970s French films