La cage aux folles

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Michel Galabru, Michel Serrault, and Ugo Tognazzi in La cage aux folles (1978)

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Farce Satire Comedy

The manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and his star attraction, are a gay couple. Madness ensues when his straight son brings home a fiancée and her ultra-cons... Read allThe manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and his star attraction, are a gay couple. Madness ensues when his straight son brings home a fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.The manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and his star attraction, are a gay couple. Madness ensues when his straight son brings home a fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

12K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 5 wins & 5 nominations total

Trivia
Actor Ugo Tognazzi refused to speak most of his lines in anything but Italian, which caused no end of problems for director Édouard Molinaro, according to an interview on the Criterion release. He says he was forced to re-write Tognazzi's French dialogue to match his lips speaking in Italian and bring in a French voice actor to re-dub the lines.

Goofs
When Renato pours champagne for Laurent, his glass overflows with champagne and foam, but when the camera cuts to Laurent after Renato asks his fiancee's name, the glass he is holding is empty. In the next shot, the glass is full to the top with champagne again.

Quotes
Albin Mougeotte: He's being taken from us, and we won't have any others.
Renato Baldi: Unless there's a miracle.

Alternate versions
Showtime presented both subtitled and dubbed versions many years ago. The dubbed version had scenes that weren't in the subtitled version.

Connections
Featured in Sneak Previews: Real Life, La Cage aux Folles, Over the Edge, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, Rich Kids (1979)

User reviews51

Featured review

8/10

Breakthrough gay film

I have fond memories of this film. It played in Boston in 1979--back then I was a closeted high school kid. It played for over a year at a theatre in Boston and I was curious to see why. I somehow got in (the film was R rated and I looked about 14) and loved it! It was funny, uplifting, gay positive and made me realize there is nothing wrong with being gay. Seeing it again over 20 years later it's not as funny or uplifting as it once was but I still enjoyed it.

The plot is old hat and the movie is directed by the numbers but the script has some very funny lines and all the performances are great. Particularly funny are Michel Serrault (as the more feminine gay man) and Michel Galabru (as the minister of moral order). The final dinner party sequence is absolutely hysterical!

Some people have said this film has stereotyped gay characters and that Serrault's constant screaming is annoying. I disagree--I found nothing offensive about the characters (there are gay men like Serrault--I've met them!) and his screaming is actually pretty funny. A very good French farce--well worth seeing. Ignore the R rating--it only has that because of the subject matter (which was pretty risky for 1978). If it were rerated today it would easily get a PG-13.

Skip the two sequels and the Americanized remake "The Birdcage" in which they use the exact same script as the original--with all the same jokes and some bad new ones added in.