La Cage aux Folles (film)

La Cage aux Folles
French release poster
Directed by Édouard Molinaro
Produced by Marcello Danon
Screenplay by
Based on La Cage aux Folles
by Jean Poiret
Starring
Music by Ennio Morricone[1]
Cinematography Armando Nannuzzi
Edited by
  • Monique Isnardon
  • Robert Isnardon
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • 25 October 1978 (1978-10-25)
Running time
 91 minutes[2]
Country
  • France
  • Italy
Language
  • French
  • Italian
Budget $1.1 million
Box office $20.4 million[3]

La Cage aux Folles is a 1978 Franco-Italian comedy film and the first film adaptation of Jean Poiret's 1973 play of the same name. It is co-written and directed by Édouard Molinaro and stars Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault.

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

Reception

Box office

As of 2014, La Cage aux Folles has remained the No. 10.[4] foreign film released in the United States of America. The film was the seconds highest-grossing film of the year in France with 5,406,614 admissions. In Germany, it received 2.65 million admissions, making it was the 11th highest-grossing film of the year.[5]

Critical response

The film received critical acclaim. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% rating based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10.[6]

Awards and honors

Year Award Category Recipients Result
1979 César Award Best Actor Michel Serrault Won
David di Donatello David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor Michel Serrault Won
National Board of Review National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film (France/Italy) Won
Top Foreign Films Won
New York Film Critics Circle Best Foreign Language Film 2nd Place
1980 Academy Awards Best Director Édouard Molinaro Nominated
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Francis Veber, Édouard Molinaro, Marcello Danon, Jean Poiret Nominated
Best Costume Design Piero Tosi, Ambra Danon Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Foreign Film (France/Italy) Won
Sant Jordi Award Best Performance in a Foreign Film Michel Serrault 2nd place

Legacy

Sequels

The film was followed by two sequels: La Cage aux Folles II (1980),[7] also directed by Molinaro, and La Cage aux folles 3 - 'Elles' se marient (1985),[8] directed by Georges Lautner.

Musical adaptation

A 1983 Broadway musical of the same name based on the play and the film was also successful.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Hinckley, David (January 21, 2001). "Is Ennio Morricone cinema's greatest living composer?". Daily News. New York. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  2. ↑ "BIRDS OF A FEATHER (LA CAGE AUX FOLLES) (AA)". British Board of Film Classification. 30 January 1980. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  3. ↑ La Cage aux Folles at Box Office Mojo
  4. ↑ Foreign Language Movies at the Box Office. Box Office Mojo.
  5. ↑ http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=7776
  6. ↑ "La Cage aux Folles (1979)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  7. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080489/
  8. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088873/
  9. ↑ http://www.playbill.com/production/la-cage-aux-folles-palace-theatre-vault-0000009148
  10. ↑ https://www.moviefone.com/2016/03/05/the-birdcage-facts/
  11. ↑ Tropiano, p. 252

Literature

  • Tropiano, Stephen (2002). The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV. Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. ISBN 1-55783-557-8.
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