WINNER – 2013 EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS - People's Choice Award For Best Film
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 French audiences upon release, THE GILDED CAGE became a sleeper box office hit, achieving over 1.2 million admissions in less than five weeks.
