Its about the gay owner of a scandalous nightclub in st. Neuesuper, carnan productions et directv realisation. But its also part of a bigger story, one in which a movie about two gay men living together as a. Remi laurent was born on october 12, 1957 in suresnes, france. They try to conceal their lifestyle and their ownership of the drag club downstairs when the fiancee and her parents come for dinner. Serraults highpitched nervous yelps punctuate the films comedy. After growing up in florence italy, tosi landed his first job as a costume assistant on a stage production of le chandelier, before meeting the legendary stage and. The story begins with renato and zaza, two guys that are gay and live together. Jump to navigation jump to search cinema of france. A samesex couple, in those days, was usually either comic relief or ridiculed, and this film challenged our perspectives. It is cowritten and directed by edouard molinaro and stars ugo tognazzi and michel serrault. Tropez, his transvestite lover, and how the owner reacts after his son returns home one day and announces hes going to marry. It was also the first gay hit in film history, inspiring not one but two sequels, as well as an american remake, mike nicholss the birdcage 1996.
But it can get away with this because of the way it is pitched as a farce, unlike, say, outrageous. Make sure you watch it in french with english subtitles. The comedy that comes out of the closet two gay men living in st. He entered films in the mid 50s and became a character star, almost exclusively in french productions. Ein kafig voller narren franzosischer originaltitel. The story is about a gay couple, renalto baldi ugo. He died on november 14, 1989 in paris, france of aids. The novelty of such sexual innuendos was rare in 1978 when this picture was released. One should not miss this classic expose of trans sexual entertainment. Renato owns a drag night club, and zaza is a female impersonator and star at the night club. It began as a french stage play in 1973, spawned two sequels, became a broadway musical, and was later remade as the 1996 comedy the birdcage.