RANSVESTIA

Produced in France and set in the locale of St. Tropez, Birds of a Feather is a well balanced situation comedy quite apart from its gay theme. The fact that the dialogue is in French with English sub-titles does not detract in any way from the timing of the humor which is lighthearted, humane, and evenly spread throughout.

The scene is a scandalous St. Tropez nightclub (La Cage aux Folles), co-owned by two gays who have lived together for 20 years in what amounts to a marriage.

Albin, played expertly by Michel Serrault, is the "wife" and the long established star of the club's transvestite revue. The couple live in ornate quarters above the club surrounded by chintz curtains and some not so subtle phallic symbols among the art objects which accessorize the gay decor. The household is served by a prancing male maid who skillfully pratfalls and pro- vides comic relief when Tognazzi and Serrault need it most.

The pair are accepted in the surrounding community and the club is filled with straights who come to see the beautiful boys in action. Among the gay community they represent royalty, stable and conservative citizens, with of mature sense of their hommosexual identities. Their tranquil maturity is shaken to some extent by the family crises which forms the plot.

A son named Laurent, sired by the husband (Tognazzi) in a one night stand many years ago, and left by his mother to the care of the two gays, is away at the university. As the movie begins, Laurent returns home for a visit on the eve of his "par- ents" twentieth anniversary. With some trepidation he announ- ces he is getting married to a girl! The gay father's response to this news is worth the price of admission but there is more -- much more to come.

--

The bride-to-be is the sweet and innocent child of a high ranking civil servant, the head of an agency known as the Union for Moral Order. Ensconced in a large estate near Paris, burdened with the awesome responsibility of upholding the countries morality, the bride's father and mother are more than a little concerned about their future son-in-law's pedigree. The question "What do your parents do?" is a matter of critical

-31-