The Birdcage (1996)
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The story
Armand and Albert are a gay couple who run a drag club in South Beach. When their son, Val, announces his engagement to Barbara Keeley, the couple faces a dilemma: how to introduce their lifestyle to her conservative, high-profile parents. To avoid a scandal for the senator, the Goldmans agree to hide their identities during a visit from the Keeleys. They attempt to redecorate their home and coach their friends to play roles in a staged domestic life. However, the arrival of the conservative family and the presence of a local drag club create a volatile situation where the truth is constantly at risk of being exposed.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Armand and Albert are a gay couple running a drag club in South Beach. When their son Val becomes engaged to Barbara Keeley, the daughter of a conservative senator, the couple agrees to hide their identities from her parents, the conservative Senator Kevin and his wife Louise. They redecorate their home and attempt to pass as a traditional household. During a visit from the Keeleys, the situation becomes chaotic as they try to manage the presence of their flamboyant housekeeper, Agador, and their drag star, Albert. When a tabloid journalist and photographer arrive, the truth is eventually revealed to the Keeleys. Following a series of comedic mishaps, the families eventually reconcile. After a final chaotic scene where the group is forced into drag to escape the paparazzi, the two families ultimately come together to support the couple's marriage.
- First release year
- 1996
- Runtime (minutes)
- 117
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Mike Nichols
- Writers
- Elaine May · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Robin Williams · Armand; Nathan Lane · Albert; Gene Hackman · Kevin; Dianne Wiest · Louise; Dan Futterman · Val; Calista Flockhart · Barbara Keeley; Hank Azaria · Agador; Christine Baranski · Katharine Archer
- Genres
- comedy
- Themes
- family; homophobia; identity
- Tone and mood
- comedy; farce
- Premise and plot tags
- LGBTQ-related; drag; political satire
- Source material / true-story basis
- La Cage aux Folles
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews and significant commercial success, being noted as a groundbreaking studio film for its central LGBT characters.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 85% · scale: percentage · review count: 65; Metacritic · score: 72 · scale: 100 · review count: 18
- Awards and nominations
- Screen Actors Guild Award · Outstanding Performance by a Cast · win; Academy Awards · Best Art Direction · 69th · nomination; GLAAD Media Award · Outstanding Film – Wide Release · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film's setting was changed from New Orleans to South Beach.; The Carlyle Hotel served as the exterior stand-in for the film's namesake club.; The film's screenplay was adapted from the 1978 French-Italian film La Cage aux Folles.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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