The Birdcage

The Birdcage is a 1996 comedy film remake of the 1978 film, La Cage aux Folles, by Jean Poiret and Francis Veber with Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi, and the film was directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Christine Baranski and Hank Azaria. The script was written by Elaine May.

Reception

The Birdcage met with mixed reviews ranging from praise to condemnation in both the mainstream press and the gay press for the portrayals of its gay characters.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) praised the film for "go[ing] beyond the stereotypes to see the character's depth and humanity. [T]he film celebrates differences and points out the outrageousness of hiding those differences."^[1]

Hal Conklin and Denny Wayman, writing at cinemainfocus.com, said, "though the film is a comedy and could be excused as just a way to make people laugh, the humor is in fact the ultimate facade. Underlying the comedy, The Birdcage is a deeply disturbed representation of humanity. This film is a vacuum of spiritual values as depicted by the characters whose extreme behaviors are played out for their comic appeal. In reality, ac[t]ing out a facade rather than being honest in relationships robs those who do so of their intimacy as well as their integrity."^[2]

Gay writer Michael Bronski, writing in Z Magazine, said, "The Birdcage is simple-minded, uninformed, laugh-track Hollywood junk and trades on the trendiness of certain aspects of gay male culture without ever understanding them. It also trivializes and diminishes gay lives by refusing to take them -- or homophobia -- seriously."^[3]

Plot

Val Goldman (Futterman) and Barbara Keeley (Flockhart) are about to get married, and decide to have their families meet. Val's dad, Armand (Williams) owns The Birdcage, a South Beach drag club, with his lover Albert (Lane), who appears regularly as the drag queen Starina. Barbara's father (Hackman) is a conservative Republican US Senator (who sees Bob Dole and Billy Graham as being too liberal) up for re-election and the co-founder of the Coalition For Moral Order.

The Keeleys decide to drive down to Miami Beach, Florida to meet their future in-laws. Things begin to go awry before they even leave: Kevin Keeley's colleague, Senator Jackson, who helped found the Coalition for Moral Order, has just died in the bed of "an underage black whore" and a scandal is brewing in the media. The Keeleys see the trip as a savior for Kevin's political career: it will give them an excuse to get out of town and Barbara's marriage into this (supposedly) wholesome all-American family will give the Senator excellent PR material.

Barbara has told her parents that Armand is a cultural attaché to Greece and that they divide their time between Greece and Florida; she also changes her fiance's family's last name from Goldman to Coleman to hide their Jewish background. In South Beach, Val eventually persuades his father to go along with the farce. Armand has the house redecorated in a more austere manner and begins remaking himself as an unassuming, conventional, heterosexual middle-aged American male. He gets in touch with his former heterosexual lover (and Val's biological mother) Katherine Archer (Baranski), and meets her at her office to ask her to join in the charade he's planning. Armand soon realizes that Albert's campy, effeminate mannerisms will be a dead giveaway to the true nature of the Goldman household and gently requests that he not be present for the dinner party that evening. Albert becomes offended and threatens to leave. A compromise is reached where Albert will remain and act as Val's uncle but this soon falls apart when Albert cannot effectively play up the "straight guy" masquerade. The Keeleys are en route to South Beach, trying to evade the paparazzi who are tailing their car. As the evening draws nearer, Agador (Azaria), the Goldmans' housekeeper has been made into a butler and chef for the evening, despite the fact that he cannot cook and never wears shoes.

The Keeleys arrive but Katherine ("Mrs. Coleman") is still not there - she is stuck in traffic. Everyone engages in small talk but Armand is nervous, even more so because Katherine has not arrived. Kevin and Louise (Wiest) are worried that Armand is behaving awkwardly because he has heard about the Jackson scandal and does not feel comfortable having the Keeleys in his house. Finally, Albert emerges, dressed in drag. Armand is surprised and realizes that if Katherine shows up their guise will be exposed. Meanwhile, Agador has prepared nothing for dinner but a bizarre soup containing, among other things, shrimp and hard-boiled eggs. During dinner, Louise Keeley notices that the bowls depict young boys in homoerotic poses in a classical Greek style. Armand insists that she is mistaken and promptly fills everyone's bowl with soup before Mrs. Keeley or the Senator can have another look. The primary topic of conversation is politics and Albert wins over the Senator with a very right-wing tirade on the moral collapse of American society. But Louise Keeley is still suspicious: the dinner was terrible and Armand kept leaving the table for no apparent reason. Kevin defends Mrs. Coleman, and remarks that Armand is a "pretentious European".

Katherine finally arrives and introduces herself as Mrs. Goldman. The rest of the party returns to the room and Kevin demands to know why there are two Mrs. Colemans. Val realizes that he cannot keep lying and pulls Albert's wig off, explaining to the Keeleys that Albert is the star of the drag show at The Birdcage. Kevin is taken aback when he finds out that Albert and Armand are gay - and Jewish. Louise Keeley breaks down and Kevin announces that they are leaving, and demands that Barbara come with them. However, they are unable to leave; the tabloids have finally tracked down the Keeleys and the house is surrounded by camera crews.

The Goldmans, the Keeleys, and Katherine sequester themselves in a bedroom and contemplate the best way to escape, and Val and Barbara explain why they deceived Kevin and Louise. The Keeleys end up sneaking out as the nightclub is closing - dressed as drag queens - and they leave South Beach with Katherine. The film ends with Barbara and Val getting married in an interfaith ceremony.

Trivia

• A special version censored for television broadcast in the US uses special effects to change the thongs worn by various extras into baggier swimwear. The television version often includes some deleted and extended scenes.

• The film was originally titled Birds of a Feather.

• Albert was originally supposed to be played by Robin Williams but Williams asked Mike Nicols if he could play Armand instead as he felt he would be typecast due to his frequency in playing flamboyant characters.

• This film is number 99 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Quotes

• Albert: Oh, yes. What an ugly story. Of course, we don't believe a word of it. He was obviously framed! I for one would like an autopsy!
  Senator Keeley: That's just what Rush Limbaugh said!
  Albert: Oh?
• Armand: You're going to the cemetery with your toothbrush. How Egyptian.
• Armand: (taking a sip of coffee) Ugh. What is this, sludge?
  Agador: Yes, it's sludge. I thought it'd make a nice change from coffee.
• Armand: What are you doing, giving him drugs? What the hell are 'pirin' tablets?
  Agador: It's aspirin, with the 'a' and the 's' scraped off.
  Armand: My God, that's brilliant.
  Agador: I know.
• Albert: Whatever I am, he made me! I was adorable once. Young and full of hope... now look at me. I'm this short, fat, insecure middle-aged thing!
  Armand: I made you short?
  Albert: (screams)
• Albert: Either I'm an artist or I'm just a cheap drag queen playing it straight so he can get laughs.
  Armand: Let's just try and get through it.
  Albert: Oh, you always ask so much of me; I have to understand every nuance of a song, I have to give a full-out performance, but everyone else can just get through it... I mean, he's chewing gum.
  Dancer: Chewing gum helps me think.
  Albert: Sweetie, you're wasting your gum.

References

See also

• Cross-dressing in film and television

External link

• The Birdcage at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=486183- Bravo's 100 funniest movies

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