Eavesdropping At The Movies

Mike Nichols and Elaine May, whose partnership in the 50s and 60s helped define American comedy, collaborate on a film for the first time in 1996, as director and screenwriter respectively, giving us a comedy so sharp and outrageous that José's laughter made Mike miss half the dialogue. An adaptation of the French farce, La Cage aux Folles, The Birdcage sees Robin Williams' South Beach drag club owner, Armand, attempt to force his life into the closet for one night, for the sake of his son, Val, whose deeply conservative in-laws are set to visit for dinner. But Nathan Lane's flamboyant Albert, Armand's longtime partner, is unable, and at first unwilling, to participate in the subterfuge as requested, and chaos ensues. The Birdcage relies heavily on stereotypes - it's not only theatrical but a farce, in which everything is heightened - and though they're enjoyably insane in themselves, the film's brilliance is in how it reveals the real people within them, people whose love and pain are rendered sensitively a