At once dated and timeless. The fabulous 1970s fashions don’t hold up too well, but what still resonates is the movie’s empathetic attention to what it’s like if your sexual identity doesn’t neatly fit into traditional norms. Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin (Michel Serrault) have been a committed gay couple for more than three decades (Renato runs the drag-queen nightclub where Albin is the aging star). Chaos ensues when Renato’s son announces his engagement and brings his fiance’s ultra-conservative parents for dinner. Most of this is played broadly enough to keep people of all sexual persuasions laughing – there is a reason it went from a French play to a movie with two sequels to an American musical and finally to a 1996 Hollywood version. Yet in between the wild wig gags is a thoughtful, almost mournful dose of reality. Albin, who has previously said that he knows most people think he looks ridiculous in women’s outfits, shows up for dinner in a stiff suit and sighs: “Dressed like this I am even more ridiculous.” La Cage aux Folles is ridiculous, and true.
