The Birdcage
In this remake of the French film La Cage Aux Folles, Williams plays Armand Goldman, the proprietor of a drag club called The Birdcage in South Beach, where he lives with his partner Albert (Nathan Lane), the star of the club. When Armand’s son Val (Dan Futterman) announces his intention to marry Barbara (Calista Flockhart), the daughter of a conservative Republican Senator Ken Keeley (Gene Hackman), the family is thrown into upheaval. Val and Barbara have lied to the Keeley’s about Armand’s profession (not to mention his sexuality), and Armand is faced with having to pretend to be a heterosexual “cultural attache to Greece” who can appear acceptable to Barbara’s conservative family.
The Birdcage boasts of some great comedic performances: everyone from Nathan Lane to Hank Azaria, as an aggressively under-dressed housekeeper, is in top form. But Williams has the task of playing both ostensible straight man to Lane’s more flamboyant character, and cutting loose every once in awhile with some damn fine comedy.
His explanation of how to perform a musical number, in which he goes through the dance styles of everyone from Madonna to Michael Kidd, has to be seen to be believed, but it’s really only a small selection from a great and heartfelt performance. The affection between Armand and Albert is due in no small measure to Williams’s ability to shift between sarcastic humor and sincerity, and make both entirely believable.
While The Birdcage is a broad film, played almost exclusively for laughs, Williams goes beyond caricature. He plays Armand as a real person, not a stereotype – a man comfortable with himself, but wanting to please his son; a man in love with his partner, and recognizing the struggles that even that can entail. There are moments of great authenticity in The Birdcage, and moments of madcap comedy, and Robin Williams walks the line between both with a delicacy of touch and a sense of humor that’s impossible to replicate.
– Lauren Humphries-Brooks
