Kirpianuscus maybe, it is not the right word. but it represents the right state. because, for its period, it was provocative, courageous, hilarious in a manner who today could be strange. but it remains nice. and special. not only for dialogues, situations, tension and crazy context. but for the admirable work of Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi, for a Michel Galabru who does a great job, for the spirit of a time who could be source for many interesting memories and comparisons and for a form of innocence who transforms, against the intentions of the director, in a form of manifesto for contemporary LGB movement.

lasttimeisaw An riotous French chamber farce, I have already watched LA CAGE AUX FOLLES II (1980, 7/10), now finally come across the original one which would spawn a Hollywood remake THE BIRDCAGE (1996) by Mike Nichols and stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane reprise the iconic couple Renato and Albin (Tognazzi and Serrault). It had remained No.1 foreign film in USA box-office for years and nominated for 3 Oscars (BEST DIRECTOR, SCREEN PLAY and COSTUME DESIGN). Albeit the film's generic "Meet Your Parents" plot-line, director Molinaro pluckily engineers the sub-culture of homosexuality and transvestite, Renato is the owner of a smoke- enshrouding drag club "La Cage Aux Folles" which is infamous for its alternative performance and target clientèle, and Albin, his partner for twenty-years, is a woman trapped in a man's body and also the premier star of the show. One night Laurent (Rémi Laurent), Renato's 20-year-old son, arrives and announces that he will marry her sweetheart Andréa (Maneri) and her parents is coming for dinner the next day, the trick is that Andréa's parents Simon (Galabru) and Louise (Scarpitta) belong to an ultra-moralistic party who just recently lost their president in a prostitute scandal. Under the grilling, Andréa lies about Renato's real identity and claims him to be a cultural attaché, so to counterbalance the bad image of the party, they decide to operate "a perfect marriage" and meet Laurent's parents. Things turn into a predictable but hysterical stew accordingly, Albin makes a fuss of the exclusion of him in the dinner and Renato has to ask aid from Laurent's birth mother Simone (Maurier), which lights up the jealousy of Albin. But, eventually, the farce will meet its moment of truth. Through and through, all the gags are incredibly conceived (including those with Jesus on the cross), and what's more gratifying the sublime rapport between Tognazzi and Serrault, together they can make the corniest jest scintillate with vigor and induce involuntary laughters without a hitch. It is a grand showboating for Serrault in particular, his mincing mannerism and effeminate verbal-ism has been unrivaled since, a true trailblazer for the now stocky stereotype of feminine gay man. To elevate the contrast in beliefs, Galabru also goes out on a limb to caricature and ends up with a side-splitting cross-dressing for amusement. Not to mention Benny Luke as the sissy black butler, who cannot wear shoes because they are trip-easy. Ennio Morricone's prominent score triumphantly conjures up the upbeat ambiance and tallies with the performance adroitly to indicate the characters' predicament or ridicule. Indeed, the film is a timeless uproar, and its winning magnetism can appreciated ubiquitously.

MARIO GAUCI I had never watched this because I only owned it in French without subtitles (though it's been shown several times on Italian TV over the years) but did catch the inferior first sequel dubbed in English; to be honest, I'm not particularly interested in checking out the Americanized version – even after acquainting myself with the original (soon after co-star Michel Serrault's passing).The film is well acted (by Serrault, Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Galabru) and very funny, though no masterpiece; it seems surprising now that a 'vulgar' farce would receive an Oscar nomination for Best Direction – that said, there's no denying its originality and style and, in any case, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES epitomized the 'alternative' gay lifestyle and immediately became the prototype of such films.To my mind, the two best gags are: Tognazzi showing his manliness by picking on a dwarf for an offence directed at his lover Serrault (with the little man nonchalantly pointing to the big guy behind him as the real culprit), and the homosexual couple's black manservant (similarly inclined) bursting into laughter at seeing Serrault trying to pass himself off as Tognazzi's wife: the latter's son by a chance encounter is getting hitched and has brought his fiancé to meet the 'family' – the trouble is that the girl's father, Galabru, happens to be an MP with a party dedicated to preserving Moral Order! Unfortunately, the film's ending – the celebration of the wedding (following the fracas at the nightclub which, predictably, sees Galabru in drag) – is rushed and fairly lame when compared to what has gone on before.I know the last entry in the series wasn't very good and, really, this should have been left as a one-off; incidentally, Tognazzi made another popular sequence of comedies around this same time (all of which I still have in my 'unwatched VHS' pile) – AMICI MIEI – which Pietro Germi initiated but Mario Monicelli took over after the latter's death, and with the third and final outing helmed by Nanni Loy.

Lucile Dudevante The issue between this film and its American remake, "The Birdcage", is not whether the second film glossed over the issues of homosexuality. French culture in 1978 simply did not allow a diplomat's daughter to marry the son of a nightclub owner, regardless of whether or not the nightclub was a drag club or not, or regardless of whether or not the diplomat was the secretary of the Union for Moral Order. Molinaro's point about Albin as a drag queen and Renato as his partner was made quite well, and several of the scenes where Albin "goes straight" are quite funny--but they weren't really the point of the movie. But this film couldn't be PERFECTLY remade, retaining all of the original facets of the French movie. Mike Nichols couldn't possibly have made a comparison about the two cultures clashing in the film, in 1996 America. ANYWHERE in 1996 America, for that matter, not just "South Beach" Florida. If you criticize the movie on those grounds, it's not quite fair. Molinaro's original was made to amplify the horror of the culture clash, by using a gay pair as the groom's parents. Nichols' remake is meant to ONLY accentuate the fact that Armand and Albert are liberally gay--flagrantly so--and not that they aren't in Kevin Keeley's class. The original is better for audiences who want something deeper and more meaningful, in that sense; but it doesn't mean that the remake is any worse for it. "La Cage" is less of a farce than "Birdcage", and that was intentional. I give both about the same rating--that is, excellent.