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La Cage aux Folles II

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La Cage aux Folles II
American Theatrical release poster
Directed byÉdouard Molinaro
Written by
Story by
  • Jean Poiret
  • Dialogue:
  • Francis Veber
Based onCharacters
by Jean Poiret
Produced byMarcello Danon
Starring
CinematographyArmando Nannuzzi
Edited by
  • Monique Isnardon
  • Robert Isnardon
Music byEnnio Morricone
Production
companies
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • 10 December 1980 (1980-12-10) (France)
  • 15 February 1981 (1981-02-15) (United States)
Running time
99 minutes[1]
Countries
  • France
  • Italy
LanguageFrench
Box office$7 million[2]

La Cage aux Folles II is a 1980 French comedy film and the sequel to 1978's La Cage aux Folles. It is directed by Édouard Molinaro and stars Michel Serrault as Albin (stage name ZaZa), the female impersonator star of a gay night-club revue, and Ugo Tognazzi as Renato, his partner of over 20 years.

Plot

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A spy plants a capsule of microfilm on Albin and from then on spies and government agents pursue him. Albin and Renato travel to Italy to hide at Renato's mother's farm. At each point along the way, we see the straight world's reaction to Albin.

Cast

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Critical response

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La Cage aux Folles II holds a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on five reviews.[3]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote "The film is as harmless, reassuring, sentimental and unsurprising as any prime-time situation comedy that has gone on too long."[4] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and wrote "The new story is even less compelling than the old one, but this time the lead characters are more meaningful. 'Cage II' is a more poignant film, portraying the straight world as pursuers of power while the homosexuals seek love and beauty."[5] Variety reported that the film was "markedly inferior" to the original and "is basically a Michael Serrault drag variety show ... There's little else here of interest or competence. Tognazzi has less to do than before and just fades into the background."[6] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote "Nothing has changed. The plot has only thinned since the real story, Renato and Zaza's relationship, has already been so exhaustively explored." She noted, though, that the film "comes alive at the moments when it deals with double and triple role reversals."[7] Lloyd Grove of The Washington Post wrote that "the sequel delivers the same punch lines to the same jokes, though this time there's a dash of international intrigue to keep things moving."[8] Gilbert Adair of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that "the juxtaposition of campy histrionics with the dreariest type of espionage comedy offers quickly diminishing returns. A pity no worthier vehicle could have been found to reprise Michel Serrault's brilliant performances, the precision of whose comic mimicry can be compared without exaggeration to that of a kabuki female impersonator."[9] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote: " La Cage aux Folles II has nothing to do with the art of movies, but it has a great deal to do with the craft and art of acting, and the pleasures of farce. Serrault gives a superb comic performance - his Albin is a wildly fanciful creation. There's a grandeur about Albin's inability to see himself as he is. And maybe it's only in this exaggerated form that a movie about the ridiculousness and the tenderness of married love can be widely accepted now."[10]

References

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  1. ^ "CAGE AUX FOLLES II, LA (SUBTITLED) (AA)". British Board of Film Classification. 25 February 1981. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  2. ^ "La Cage aux Folles 2 (1981)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  3. ^ "La Cage aux Folles II". Rotten Tomatoes.
  4. ^ Canby, Vincent (15 February 1981). "Film: Renato and Albin In New 'Cage aux Folles'". The New York Times. 68.
  5. ^ Siskel, Gene (27 February 1981). "An entertaining 'Cage' sequel sidesteps a chance to be daring". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 3.
  6. ^ "Film Reviews: La Cage Aux Folles II". Variety. 31 December 1980. 20.
  7. ^ Benson, Sheila (7 March 1981). "Plot Thins in 'La Cage Aux Folles II'". Los Angeles Times. Part II, p. 11.
  8. ^ Grove, Lloyd (6 March 1981). "'La Cage' II". The Washington Post. Weekend, p. 15.
  9. ^ Adair, Gilbert (May 1981). "La Cage aux Folles II". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 48 (568): 90.
  10. ^ Kael, Pauline. Taking It All In, p.167 ISBN 0-7145-2841-2
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