Review #937: La Cage Aux Folles (1978)

Title: La Cage Aux Folles
Year: 1978
Director: Eduoard Molinaro
Country: France:
Language: French

Loosely translated to "Birds of a Feather" La Cage Aux Folles is perhaps the most successful foreign film ever released in the United States. One may be more familiar with its Hollywood remake The Birdcage starring Nathan Lane and Robin Williams, but this picture also inspired two sequels, a hit broadway musical and a transvestite nightclub. It's an impactful comedy that was perhaps socially ahead of its time in the late 70's.

Two gay men living in St. Tropez have their lives turned upside down when the son of one of the men announces he is getting married to a woman.

Director Eduoard Molinaro was nominated for an oscar due to this side-splitting family comedy that transcends social norms. Its roots are in the screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's, albeit La Cage Aux Folles would turn Bringing Up Baby (1940) on its head. It's a refreshingly frank film that is greatly helped by a superb cast and brilliant writing. 

The timing of this picture had a lot to do with its success too. It rode the waves of the European sexual revolution, albeit many liberals felt that the couple were too stereotypically gay. Indeed the two main characters tread on thin ice, narrowly avoiding crossing the line between "funny" and "offensive". They are given a great deal of humanity however, so even at their most bumbling we can sympathize and connect with them.

I personally am more of a fan of Milos Forman's American remake The Birdcage, if only because Robin Williams' line "It's like riding a psychotic horse towards a burning stable" is so utterly brilliant. Despite this favoritism, I must say that La Cage Aux Folles is a fine comedy that ought to be seen over and over again.