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.

In this film, a young man is about to marry a girl--a girl from an EXTREMELY moralistic family. In fact, her father is a big-wig with a French political party that prides itself on its righteousness and pro-traditional morality stance. This is a serious problem, as the man was raised in a home with two fathers--a biological one and the father's lover--who just happens to be a cross-dressing star of a cabaret! So, to try to get the father to give his blessing, everyone conspires to hide this--to pretend that the young man was raised in a very conservative home. At first, it means possibly having the boy's biological mother pose as the mother--even though she abandoned him when he was a child. Then, when she doesn't show, the father's lover (already a cross-dresser extraordinaire) decides to fill in for her and pretend to be the mother! Will this elaborate ruse work?! A few months ago, my oldest daughter and I saw the play for "La Cage Aux Folles" on Broadway. The show was marvelous and we had a wonderful time. Now, we both sat down to see the original French film on which the play was based. In retrospect, this was not the best way to have seen the movie, as it simply was better and made the movie look a lot worse by comparison. I think if I'd seen the movie first, I would have done a much more favorable review here on IMDb.

Plot-wise, the film and play are very similar. The biggest difference is not WHAT happens but how. So, despite the events being mostly the same, the film falls quite flat in comparison because the characters seem to lack heart. In other words, there isn't the same loving chemistry there was in the play. In the play, no matter what, you KNOW that the people all love each other down deep. In this film, however, they all seem a bit selfish. In addition, the film lacks some of the humor of the play--though I could live more with that than the coldness of the characters towards each other. Good--but it could have been a lot better.

By the way, for a French comedy with a gay theme that was better AND directed by the same man who wrote the screenplay for "La Cage Aux Folles", try "The Closet"--a delightful and poignant movie indeed.

Two gay men living in St. Tropez have their lives turned upside down when the son of one of the men announces he is getting married. They try conceal their lifestyle and their ownership of the drag club downstairs when the fiancée and her parents come for dinner.

So this is apparently a French film (the language is French),with an almost all-Italian crew. So is it an Italian film? Well, whatever, it definitely has a European sensibility to it that is absent in the American remake.

This movie really was ahead of its time. The remake was ahead by a little bit, but seemed perfectly appropriate in its own way. Especially by casting Robin Williams, which allowed it to be more mainstream. Here we have almost the exact same story... but in 1978. Maybe Europe is more advanced, but this might have ruffled a few feathers.