A Return to Family Values

When people discuss a film or TV show that “couldn’t be made today,” they mean something with content that is questionable, maybe even awful, but the work is beloved despite this because of what it does well (and maybe as its place in cinematic history). People will say that online (and in an SR-71 song) about Blazing Saddles, a film that confronts racism head on through the guise of an Old West movie parody. In fact, I think there are probably a number of people that would suspect you couldn’t make any of Mel Brooks’s good films today (including, again, SR-71).

But going back and watching The Birdcage after close to 30 years (having seen it on home video when my mom rented it after the film came out on rents shelves), I was struck by the fact that we don’t tend to see films or shows this pro-gay that are meant to be viewed by such wide audiences. A film about a gay couple who has a college-aged son, and that son is engaged to the daughter of a neo-conservative Senator, just wouldn’t get made now. For one, the very concept seems too far-fetched. Our political climate is so hyper-partisan, so split that there’s no way these two families could ever come together; more like the daughter would go no-contact on her family and that would be the end of the story.

But that speaks to the inherent sweetness of the film. Despite the fact that now (and even back in the 1990s) it seemed unlikely that these two families could ever find a way to get along (and that, of course, is where the film draws a lot of its humor), the film sells the idea that they are actually able to find some common ground. They come together, one family helps the other, and suddenly we have a bridge built where one couldn’t have happened before. Does that solve all political issues today? Certainly not… but I think you could also make the case that The Birdcage, and films like it, helped to normalize gay relationships to the point that, as these works continued to come out, we could have events like gay marriage being legalized.

So I guess we need The Birdcage again for a new generation. Although maybe we can tone down some of the more questionable parts of the film…

The movie stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as Armand Goldman and his life partner Albert. Armand owns and runs a drag nightclub, the Birdcage, where Albert performs every night as “Starina”. The two live together above the club in their private apartments, assisted by their housekeeper Agrador (Hank Azaria). It’s a nice life for them even if, at times, Armand and Albert get on each others’ nerves (as any couple with big personalities is bound to do). They’ve been together for 20 years and they just… work.

This gets thrown into upheaval, though, when Armand’s son, Val (Dan Futterman) comes home from college to announce that he’s gotten engaged. The girl in question is Barbara Keely (Calista Flockhart), daughter of Senator Kevin Keely (Gene Hackman), the neo-conservative second-in-command of the Coalition for Moral Order. Keely has been sent reeling when the co-founder on the committee was found dead in bed with an underage, Black prostitute, and the Senator needs a win. A big wedding to distract the media from the crumbling of his political career is just the ticket. So Val and Barbara lie to the Keeleys, telling them that Armand is the Greek art attache, that he’s not gay, and that Albert… well, Albert doesn’t exist in this fabrication. Now the Goldman’s have to uproot their lives and pretend to be people they aren’t just to get the blessing of the Keeley’s for the wedding.

Going back and watching The Birdcage again, the first thing I was struck by was the fact that Albert gets a raw deal in this film. Val supposedly loves both his gay parents, with both Armand and Albert raising the boy together, but while Armand is allowed to stick around and play the straight father in this fabricated life, Albert is “too gay”, “too swishy” to be able to pass, so he just has to go away. The film eventually corrects this and finds a way to let Albert win the day for a time, but still, I feel like Val shouldn’t have acted this way about Albert. However they had to sell it, a son in that position, growing up with two parents like these two men, wouldn’t have wanted to single out either of them. This felt false.

With that said, I do love the performances from Williams and Lane as the gay couple. They are, without a doubt, fantastic. The Albert role was originally written for Williams but he turned it down, instead wanting to play Armand. He gets to play straight man in many of the scenes, proving that Williams had a deft hand for all kinds of comedy, while occasionally being able to let out his wilder performance style in key moments. And Lane is absolutely fantastic as Albert, selling all sides and facets of the character. He owns Albert (and Starina) and makes them his own. You love Albert in this film, which makes all the times the film dismisses him feel worse.

Another thing I noticed is that the film doesn’t at all address trans characters. They just don’t exist here. Now, sure, this was made in the mid-1990s and trans, as a group, wasn’t really known at the time. But Val considers Albert his “mother”, Albert doesn’t really think of himself as a man. Yes, it’s a drag club, but you get the vibe that, were this movie made twenty years later, Albert wouldn’t just be a drag queen, he’d be a trans, male-to-female, person. This once again makes me think that a film like this, however hard it would be to make, really should be done for our current era.

Now, speaking of things that really haven’t aged well: Agrador. I want to like the character, sure, but I think the way Hank Azaria plays him is more of a parody than as a real character. I have no doubt about Williams as a gay man as his performance doesn’t play into stereotypes or caricature. He just owns it. Lane, of course, is a gay man so his performance is never in doubt, either. BBut Hank Azaria doesn’t suit this movie. He’s too broad, too “swishy”, too fake. Plus, he’s a white dude in brown face playing a Guatemalan and, clearly, this shouldn’t have happened. Azaria can be great in roles, he just shouldn’t have been in this role.

With those caveats aside, though, I think the plot of the movie is pretty solid. You can view The Birdcage as a metaphor for closeting and trying to conform your life (it’s really not that subtle about it), and I appreciate that once the lie comes out and the farce is over, everyone suddenly gets to feel better about themselves and own who they are. There’s joy in the final scenes as Armand, Albert, and Val get to be their true selves, dancing around to the music from the club as a solution to all their problems makes itself available. It makes you think, “if they could have just been themselves from the beginning maybe they could have saved a lot of stress.” That might be unrealistic in real life, but that’s what the movie wants you to feel.

And it is a hilarious movie. The scenes of Williams and Lane playing off of each other are great. The charisma between the two is palpable, and all the fun they clearly had making this film comes out on screen. The dinner party is also so funny, with a lot of big and small gags that keep the momentum and the comedy moving. It really is just a fine-tuned, clockwork farce from beginning to end, keeping you laughing throughout as you grow to enjoy these characters. This was a great cast with a great script given great direction, and it shows.

The film was based on a French movie, La Cage au Folles, but it manages to adapt the work into a very American movie that works well. While I think it would have been great to see sequels (the French film had two), I also respect that we didn’t get additional farcical stories for these families. This movie is a solid, self-contained story with a good message about acceptance and being yourself, and it works. Anything more likely would have diluted the power of this film, even if seeing Williams and Lane working together again would have been a treat.

The Birdcage in some ways really does hold up and in other ways it shows its age. It’s still a fun watch, and a well crafted movie, but I can’t help but think we could use a newer version with updated politics to suit our modern era. Maybe that would be impossible to do now… but I would certainly hope otherwise.