La cage dorée
Director: Ruben Alves
Cast: Rita Blanco, Joaquim de Almeida
Duration: 91 mins
Country of Origin: France/Portugal
Coarse language
★★★★
“Thoroughly enjoyable. Loaded with goodwill, the screenplay positively sizzles. A lovably authentic romp that manages to speak to a broad audience, while also echoing the experiences of emigres around the world. This is a quietly joyous slice of life, told with a genuine heart and deep feeling.”
Ed Gibbs, THE SUN-HERALD/SUNDAY AGE
★★★★★
“An harmonious mixture of laughs and emotion. This is a golden comedy which you will not forget.”
Pierre Vavasseur, LE PARISIEN
★★★1/2
“A comedy about generations and expectations, a story of family, work and the desire for transformation. A film of warmth and good-natured charm, well constructed and disarmingly told.”
Philippa Hawker, THE AGE
★★★1/2
“Lovely. Sure to delight. Will have audiences laughing in the aisles. Alves works in fine style, adding just the right touches of levity and longing. Good stuff.”
Leigh Paatsch, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH/COURIER-MAIL
“Told with such verve and warmth, this effusive film can’t help but soften the hardest hearts. A neat, life-affirming package… As sweet and tasty as a Portuguese tart. You’ll leave wanting more.”
Julian Wood, FILMINK
2013 EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS
Writer/director Ruben Alves’ enormously charming, semi-autobiographical Parisian comedy is the story of a loving, hardworking married couple whose long-held dream of returning to their homeland finally comes true – only to be secretly undermined by their overly dependent friends and neighbours.
Maria (Rita Blanco) and José (Joaquim de Almeida) emigrated from Portugal 30 years ago. Ever since, they have lived in the modest ground floor lodgings of a chic apartment building in Paris, raising their now adult daughter and teenage son, and becoming utterly indispensible to all around them.
When José learns he has inherited the family winery and the couple’s dream of returning to Portugal is now possible, they are elated – but struggle with how to tell those around them. However, word of the big news spreads anyway, and soon their family, neighbours, friends and employers are scrambling behind the scenes to find ways to prevent them from leaving…
Richly informed by his own upbringing as the son of Portuguese immigrants in Paris, Alves’ warm-hearted, cross-cultural comedy features a terrific ensemble cast, spot-on comic timing and a thoroughly appealing central couple, whose dilemmas are portrayed with great tenderness and affection.
Enthusiastically embraced by audiences upon release in April this year, THE GILDED CAGE became the sleeper box office hit of the French spring, achieving over 1.2 million admissions in less than five weeks.
Screen-Space’s Simon Foster met with Ruben Alves during his Sydney visit.
Comedy the Portuguese Way: Ruben Alves with The Canberra Times’ Jane Freebury.
