Product Description

One of "the most successful foreign films ever shown in the U.S." (The Wall Street Journal),this "wildly hilarious" (Independent Film Journal) French farce is "giddy, unpretentious andan entirely lovable film" (Time)! When young Laurent returns to exotic St. Tropez, he bears big news for his beloved father, Renato. Laurent has found the girl of his dreams and they are engaged! What's more, she and her family are on their way over for dinner at Renato's home to meet the in-laws-to-be. This traditional meeting of families seems typical, but because this ultraconservative family will be expecting to meet Renato and wife, they'll never be prepared for the shock of meeting Renato and his flamboyant, campy, outrageous loverand dragqueenAlbin! So in agreat effort to please his son, Renato asks Albin for the performance of a lifetime'setting up an unforgettable evening that is charged and ready to detonate an explosion of zaniness and absurdity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20878 in DVD
• Brand: TOGNAZZI,UGO
• Released on: 2001-07-24
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com
A likable 1977 French farce (and the basis for the 1996 American remake, The Birdcage), this popular comedy was one of the most successful international films of all time, and even spawned a Broadway musical and two sequels. It tells the story of a gay couple who--when one man's son from a previous liaison brings home his fiancée--masquerade as husband and wife for their prospective in-laws. The film is saved from becoming an exercise in silliness by the heartfelt characterizations of the gay nightclub owners. La Cage aux Folles is one of the funniest imports from Europe and a great comedy in any venue. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews

One of the Funniest Movies EVER Released - SIX STARS!
American audiences tend to resist foreign films for some good reasons. Sure, its tough to keep up with subtitles at times, and yes, sometimes the translations are lacking the depth the filmaker intends to convey. But this is a film that can and should be enshrined in the Movie Hall of Fame as one of the funniest, most endearing films ever released. Audiences who are willing to put up with subtitles will quickly find themselves hysterical and at last, on DVD, "La Cage Aux Folles" deserves to find a new audience, a new generation that appreciates broad humor, with a few good lessons thrown in.

Americans are familiar with the story, since "La Cage" was turned into a successful Broadway show and then a huge money-making comedy "The Birdcage" featuring Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in the lead roles (not to mention a young Calista Flockhart of "Ally McBeal" fame and Dan Futterman who is brilliant in "Urbania.") But "The Birdcage" as funny as it can be, fades by comparison to the original, with star making performances by Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault as the leading cross dressing couple of the French Riviera. Where "The Birdcage" allows for broad humor that both confronts and appeases the typical homophobic US audience, "La Cage" offers no apologies, and rests on its own merits as a farce without limits. When Tognazzi teaches Serrault how to "walk like John Wayne" you quickly forget the language barrier, and give up on Robin William's own attempts to educate the shrill Lane in the English version. Somehow, the fact that these characters are French adds a dimension of humanity that is lacking in the "Birdcage." Even the setting on the French Riviera (versus the buff and tough South Beach in the American version) adds to the three dimensional aspects of the characters. There is a sleazy-humor at work here that has been toned down tremendously for the American version, and that can only be captured by a cast that is uniformly superb, endearing, and wonderful. Oscar nominated for its leading performer, Tognazzi, as well as its superb direction, THIS is one of the funniset movies ever made in ANY language. If you love Robin WIlliams movies, and enjoy laughing, BUY THIS FILM - you will be more than glad you did, and you'll find yourself literally hitting the pause button in order to GAWFAW your way through it.

If there were SIX stars for movies, "La Cage Aux Folles" would warrant six-and-a-half!

Great movie, Substandard Transfer
Since others have already expounded on the enduring comic nature of the movie itself, I'll restrict my comments to the DVD. I'd give the movie about 4 stars, but the DVD transfer I would award only 2.

Why? The film quality is not only substandard, but on occasion the frame jumps, as if somebody had bumped the telecine during the process. Additionally, the audio is VERY poor, not only varying in loudness, but at times the French audio track is not even synchronized with the lip movements on screen.

This would be worthy of a re-do by Criterion or other reputable production company...please?

One of the Most Successful Comedies of All Times
It pays to overcome both aversions to foreign films and homophobic sentiments to enjoy this film, which is now already a classic farce that has already made it into a Broadway play and an Americanized version, "Birdcage," with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. The original, however, stands out as especially spectacular, largely due to the talents of actor Michel Serrault who went on to the sequel, "La Cage Aux Folles 2," to demonstrate his acting abilities to an even greater degree.

The story tells of the owner of a gay nightclub, La Cage Aux Folles, one Renato Baldi (Ugo Tognazzi), whose son Laurent (Rémi Laurent) comes home to inform him he is getting married. Because his father has come to live a very openly gay lifestyle with his partner, Albin (Michel Serrault), a drag queen who performs in his club and who is very openly effeminate in real life as well, Laurent is very concerned that his father make a good impression on his fiancée's conservative family, who happen to be involved in politics and are very concerned about negative publicity. The only problem is that the fiancée, Andrea (Luisa Maneri), has also told a little white lie to her family that her fiancé's father is a cultural attaché. Of course, the lie ultimately breaks down when the families meet. The groom's father invites the mother, Simone (Claire Maurier), to come, but then Albin decides, without informing anyone, to dress up as a woman and pretend to be the mother, and the result is classic farce as anyone could expect. To make matters worse, when the truth is out and the bride's parents want to storm out in anger, they discover that the press are outside waiting; the only way they can leave is by way of the gay club that they so loathe and, even worse, to do it in drag to escape detection. The irony is as perfect as any farce writer could want it; the ultra-conservative father of the bride (Michel Galabru), who has been fuming all day about "the honor of his party," is suddenly forced to dress up like a woman, and when he confronts his conniving chauffeur (Venantino Venantini), who has been accepting bribes to give tips to the press about his employer's whereabouts, he lets him have it full in the face.

This film is one that will give you a laugh for sure. It's worth the price and worth having in your collection.