La Cage aux Folles (film)

Plot

Like the play, the film tells the story of a gay couple – Renato Baldi (Ugo Tognazzi), the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin Mougeotte (Michel Serrault), his star attraction – and the madness that ensues when Renato's son, Laurent (Rémi Laurent), brings home his fiancée, Andrea (Luisa Maneri), and her ultra-conservative parents (Carmen Scarpitta and Michel Galabru) to meet them.

Cast

Box office

As of 2014, La Cage aux Folles has remained the No. 10. foreign film released in the United States of America.

Critical response

The film received critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% rating based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10.

Sequels

The film was followed by two sequels: La Cage aux Folles II (1980), also directed by Molinaro, and La Cage aux folles 3 - 'Elles' se marient (1985), directed by Georges Lautner.

Musical adaptation

A 1983 Broadway musical of the same name based on the play and the film was also successful.

American remake

In 1996, an American remake titled The Birdcage, directed by Mike Nichols and written by Elaine May, was released, relocated to South Beach, Miami, and stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.

Adam and Yves

La Cage aux Folles caught the attention of television producer Danny Arnold, 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 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.

Literature