RANSVESTIA

importance upon which the remainder of the film hinges. The daughter knows the truth but dares not say. In a pinch she lies and leads her parents to believe that Laurent is the son of a diplomatic attache. A meeting of the two families is arranged to discuss wedding plans.

The prospect of a visit by the bride's parents sets the home above the nightclub in utter turmoil. It is obvious to Laurent and his father that the in-laws-to-be never know the truth. A cover-up scheme is hatched but is beset by enormous difficul- ties. What can be done about the furnishings, the chintz, the phallic symbols, etc? Can the gay father act out the part of an attache? What is to be done about his "wife" who has been the only mother the boy has known? The real mother, contacted at the last minute, agrees in a fit of remorse to stand in for one evening. This leads to a fit of jealousy on Albin's part. The finale brings the two families together at a hilarious dinner party that features a swish maid turned butler, two mothers of the groom, one with too much hair on her forearm, and some embarrass- ingly hommosexual erotic dinnerware, overlooked in the haste to get everything ready. In the end, all survive and the mar- riage takes place, but not before the staid head of the Union for Moral Order is converted to a grande matron, complete with hairpiece and ballgown. This disguise becomes essential for his escape from the nightclub where inquisitive members of the press have assembled in search of a scandal.

The film handles all of this with cleverness and without becoming a parody for insecure heterosexuals or an inside joke for gays only. Hence, its broader universal appeal is pure en- tertainment.

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"OH, what a drag today was!"

alor

Betty Woods

gith

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