{"id":51537,"date":"2020-09-13T15:05:41","date_gmt":"2020-09-13T22:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51537"},"modified":"2021-02-05T17:09:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-06T00:09:02","slug":"cage-aux-folles-la-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51537","title":{"rendered":"Cage Aux Folles, La (1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;We have to marry her off in great splendor. You&#8217;ll be the symbol of tradition once again.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster-228x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-51539\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster-228x300.png 228w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster-778x1024.png 778w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster-97x128.png 97w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster-768x1010.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster-205x270.png 205w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Poster.png 805w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen his son (Remy Laurent) announces he&#8217;s getting married to the daughter (Lisa Maneri) of a conservative couple (Carmen Scarpitta and Michel Galabru), the owner (Ugo Tognazzi) of a nightclub featuring transvestite dancers realizes he&#8217;ll have to send his long-time partner (Michel Serrault) away and invite his son&#8217;s estranged mother (Claire Maurier) to dinner that night &#8212; but Serrault, appropriately indignant, refuses to leave. How will the situation turn out?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Gender Bending<\/li>\n<li>Homosexuality<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<li>Morality Police<\/li>\n<li>Nightclubs<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary is clearly no fan of this &#8220;French farce&#8221; which &#8220;became the most successful foreign film ever to play in the U.S., raking in more than $40 million and playing in some theaters for more than a year.&#8221; He notes that given how &#8220;it caused so much excitement among those who loved it or despised it&#8221;, it&#8217;s &#8220;startling how innocuous it is;&#8221; he goes on to refer to it as a &#8220;dishonest film&#8221; that is &#8220;so timid it suggests that this gay couple could raise a heterosexual son &#8212; and a <em>boring<\/em> son at that&#8221; (?!?). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son-1024x610.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58093\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son-1024x610.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son-300x179.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son-128x76.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son-768x457.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son-1536x915.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son-453x270.png 453w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Son.png 1735w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s right to point out that the film &#8220;plays it [too] safe, catering to straight audiences&#8221; to the extent that the only &#8220;lovemaking scene&#8221; we see &#8220;involves [Tognazzi] with a <em>female<\/em>, his ex-wife&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking-1024x585.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"366\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58091\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking-1024x585.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking-128x73.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking-768x439.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking-1536x878.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking-472x270.png 472w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Lovemaking.png 1793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He also points out that much of the film&#8217;s &#8220;humor comes at the gay characters&#8217; expense; repeatedly we are supposed to laugh at how effeminate [Serrault] and butler Jacob [Benny Luke] are, at how exaggerated their mannerisms are, at how awkward they look when walking or gesturing, at how affected their voices are &#8230; , and how they whine or scream in surprise over everything.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1-1024x580.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"363\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58096\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1-1024x580.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1-768x435.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1-1536x869.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1-477x270.png 477w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1.png 1811w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, &#8220;director-co-writer Edouard Molinaro never bothers to explore the subtleties of his characters or accentuate their endearing idiosyncrasies&#8221;: Tognazzi &#8220;tolerates [Serrault] in [a] conventional movie fashion &#8212; like a husband who accepts the <em>childish<\/em> activities and personality of his wife because she is <em>female<\/em> and is supposed to act that way;&#8221; and &#8220;there are surprisingly few funny moments in the major sequence in which [Tognazzi] and [Serrault] try to clean up their act when [Tognazzi&#8217;s] son brings home for dinner his fiancee, her mother, and her father&#8230; who is the secretary for the Union of Moral Order.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents-1024x588.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58094\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents-1024x588.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents-128x73.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents-768x441.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents-470x270.png 470w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Parents.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Peary argues that while &#8220;there&#8217;s potential for fireworks&#8221;, &#8220;Molinaro forgot the matches&#8221;. He rags further on the film in his <em>Cult Movies<\/em> book, where he states that &#8220;Molinaro has no flare for comedy and never lets a scene run long enough for the gags to develop sufficiently.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Peary does concede that there are at least &#8220;several amusing moments in the picture&#8221;, including &#8220;when [Tognazzi] toasts [Maneri] over the phone by breaking a glass on the receiver;&#8221; &#8220;when [Tognazzi] instructs [Serrault] how to butter his toast and stir his tea in a masculine manner;&#8221; and &#8220;when [Scarpitta] and [Serrault] quibble over whether the nude figures on the dinner dishes are all boys, as [Scarpitta] insists, or are male and female, as [Serrault] fibs.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-1024x566.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"354\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58098\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-1024x566.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-768x424.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-1536x848.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-489x270.png 489w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates-1038x576.png 1038w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/La-Cage-Aux-Folles-Plates.png 1823w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, however, Peary dismisses this film as &#8220;a family comedy that never rises above a level of mediocrity&#8221; &#8212; as &#8220;rollicksome as the most tired French bedroom farce but not as risque, as stupid a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Laura_Antonelli\">Laura Antonelli<\/a> sex comedy but not as arousing, and as &#8216;controversial&#8217; and &#8216;relevant&#8217; as <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=30320\"><em>Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Dinner?<\/em> (1967)<\/a> is today.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>While I enjoyed this &#8220;innocuous&#8221; cult comedy more than Peary, I agree with many of his assessments. It&#8217;s weird &#8212; though perhaps not surprising, given the intended audience &#8212; that Tognazzi allows himself to be &#8220;seduced&#8221; by Maurier (perhaps this was done to &#8220;prove&#8221; that Laurent could have been conceived once upon a long time ago?), and much of the humor-at-the-expense-of-homosexuality comes across as terribly dated these days. How much you laugh may depend on how much you can simply giggle uncomfortably &#8212; something that&#8217;s NOT possible in any way with Luke&#8217;s portrayal of a servile black &#8220;maid&#8221; (everything about how his character is presented and treated rings distasteful). <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke-1024x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-58090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke-768x430.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke-1536x859.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke-483x270.png 483w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Luke.png 1811w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>With that said, I think all film fanatics should watch this film once to become familiar with it, though it likely won&#8217;t become a repeat favorite. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Michel Serrault as Albin<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1024x588.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-51538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1024x588.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-128x74.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-768x441.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-1536x883.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still-470x270.png 470w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Cage-Aux-Folles-Still.png 1627w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, once, for its cult status. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0077288\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/la-cage-aux-folles-1979\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1979\/05\/13\/archives\/film-cage-aux-folles-farce-in-a-french-clubthe-cast.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We have to marry her off in great splendor. You&#8217;ll be the symbol of tradition once again.&#8221; Synopsis: When his son (Remy Laurent) announces he&#8217;s getting married to the daughter (Lisa Maneri) of a conservative couple (Carmen Scarpitta and Michel Galabru), the owner (Ugo Tognazzi) of a nightclub featuring transvestite dancers realizes he&#8217;ll have to send his long-time partner (Michel Serrault) away and invite his son&#8217;s estranged mother (Claire Maurier) to dinner that night &#8212; but Serrault, appropriately indignant, refuses&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=51537\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51537"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69027,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51537\/revisions\/69027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}