Ein Käfig voller Narren (1978)
7KEin Käfig voller Narren: Directed by Édouard Molinaro. With Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault, Claire Maurier, Rémi Laurent. The manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and his star attraction, are a gay couple. Madness ensues when his straight son brings home a fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.
“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 itu0026#39;s not as funny or uplifting as it once was but I still enjoyed it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe 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! u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSome people have said this film has stereotyped gay characters and that Serraultu0026#39;s constant screaming is annoying. I disagree–I found nothing offensive about the characters (there are gay men like Serrault–Iu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSkip the two sequels and the Americanized remake u0026quot;The Birdcageu0026quot; in which they use the exact same script as the original–with all the same jokes and some bad new ones added in.”
