La Cage Aux Folles Meets The Bride

La Cage Aux Folles III--The Wedding Directed by Georges Lautner At the USA Copley Place

ANOTHER SEQUEL TO the La Cage Aux Folles trilogy has just hit the silver screen, and the two principal characters, Renato/Zaza (Ugo Tognazzi), the transvestite star of the Cage aux Folles cabaret, and Albin (Michel Serrault), the manager of the St. Tropez nightclub, are still being played by the original actors. Naturally, Zaza and Baldi have aged a little bit since the saga began--they mostly go by the names "Mammi" and "Pappi" as a concession to the passing of time.

As for the movie's plot, it is very simple. La Cage is losing lots of money when the movie starts. Conveniently enough, an old Scottish aunt of Mammi's has died and bequeathed her 10 million pounds sterling and so much land that it is just quantified in the movie as being "half of Scotland". There is--of course--a condition to this inheritance which naturally, Mammi has no hope of ever honoring. The condition states that Mammi must marry a woman and have a baby by her within eighteen months.

Mammi, of course, refuses even to consider the inheritance after she has heard this stipulation. "There are some things" she declares "which can't even be done for 10 million pounds."

After a good deal of heated discussion and some heavy lobbying by Pappi (who will be on his way to debtor's prison if he doesn't manage to get his hands on Mammi's inheritance), Mammi finally agrees to contact a dating service and work on procuring a mate. Various calamities occur, accusations of heterosexaulity are thrown back and forth and the movie goes on its merry way.

NOW IF YOU go to see La Cage III, you are going to see a lot of Mammi. And you will either like or dislike the show depending on whether you adore or abhor Mammi.

Mammi is the whole show. Mammi is in every act, nearly every scene, and absolutely every gag in the movie. Mammi is everywhere.

And Mammi is extravagant! She gets to wear all the impressive costumes. My goodness, the regalia she wears on the screen! When she's on the cabaret stage, she gets all dolled up as the Queen Bee in La Cage's fall production of the Flight of the Bumblebee. And when she is just wearing her at-homes, she is often wearing fishnet stockings, with a pink mini-skirt. Ooooohhh-la-la Mammi!"

Pink, pink, pink. She's always wearing pink or covering her room with pink things. Her room looks as if a thousand pink bears were shot expressly to outfit her with custom-dyed pink carpeting. There is pink in the bathroom; pink in the bed; pink in the lavatory; there is pink everywhere. It isn't the subtlest of imageries but it very usefully informs us of Mammi's preferences and proclivities.

Along with all the attentions which Mammi has received from the costume director of the movie, she also gets exclusive delivery privileges of the film's choicest lines, as written by dialogue director Michel Audiard. When Mammi catches Pappi taking a peek at Playboy, she remonstrates, "Pappi! Don't do that, honey. You shall give yourself nightmares. Please! Be sensible!". When she has to wear a business suit, she complains, "I hate flat shoes! I absolutly hate flat shoes! How can anybody ever keep their balance in these damn things!". Funny dialogue is great, but gestures and expression make Serrault's performance really memorable; when she gets frisked by a policeman, she frisks back.

The movie does hit a few lows which coincide with Mammi's fits of emotional depression. Fortunately, the film always manages to pick itself up. Suddenly Mammi will start to make jokes again. She will give her characteristic gasps and laughs and the movie will be enjoyable until her next attack of me! nobody sets in.

And that is basically how the whole movie goes. It is as good as Mammi's spirits. When she is happy, the movie is good. When she is down, the movie is awful. And since Mammi's spirits are very changeable, the movie is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

At best, the plot is only an excuse to have Mammi on the screen as much as possible. She carries the show for the whole 98 minutes, and even though she drops it several times, the movie is worth seeing.