La Cage aux Folles

Directed by Édouard Molinaro and adapted from Jean Poiret's 1973 stage play, this 1978 French-Italian comedy follows a gay couple who run the La Cage aux Folles drag nightclub on the French Riviera. Renato manages the club's daily affairs while his partner Albin is its star performer, and their world is thrown into chaos when Renato's son Laurent — born of a brief fling years earlier — announces his engagement to the daughter of an ultraconservative politician, forcing the couple to disguise their life together.

Starring Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault, the film was a major commercial hit in France and became one of the most successful foreign-language releases in the United States. It won the 1979 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, earned three Oscar nominations including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and brought Serrault the César for Best Actor. Two sequels followed, and the same source material inspired a 1983 stage musical and Mike Nichols's 1996 American remake The Birdcage.