Empire Australasia - 03.2020

The Birdcage Chosen byLORENE SCAFARIA

We decided to drive down to

see theseasons change.

Hmmm. It was...long trip,

though. Virginia.Kentucky.

Tennessee. Georgia. It was

just so magical to me to

come from the north, where

it’s cold, to the south, where

it’s warm.

Louise laughs, encouragingly.

SENATOR KEELEY:See

the tremendous differences,

from region to region, in this

incredible countryof ours.

Louise murmurs in appreciation.

Val nods silently. Armand looks

like he wants to die.

SENATOR KEELEY:My wife

and I used to go down to

Virginia every autumn to see

the foliage turn. Virginia has

amazing foliage, although I do

think that the foliage in Ohio

is underrated.

Stilted chuckles.

SENATOR KEELEY:It’s just

dazzling along I-75...

The phone rings. The Senator

pauses for a second, then it

goes to the answering machine.

SENATOR KEELEY: Yes,

just dazzling.

In the background, as Keeley

continues, we hear Katharine’s

voice saying, “Hello? It’s

Katharine. Armand? Val?

Albert?” Val takes a drink

of champagne.

SENATOR KEELEY: So we

would go down to Virginia, just

to get away for a while, you

know. See the wonderful farms...

As Katharine says “Albert”, Val

nearly chokes on his champagne.

He gets up and heads over to the

answering machine. Katharine is

saying, “Oh shit. Listen, I’m stuck

in traffic. Can you start dinner

without me?” Val turns off the

answering machine, and walks

back to his chair.

SENATOR KEELEY: The

countryside. Just beautiful. The

hills. The mountains. Talk about

your Purple Mountains majesty.

Just fantastic. Red leaves.

Purple mountains. Green

fi elds. And the roads. Black.

Cutting through the green.

All the colours. The trees.

Pennsylvania’s nice, too.

LOUISE: (almost gasping, as if

the banality is killing her) Yes.

ARMAND: Was that my wife?

Just now on the phone. I think it

was. I was just so caught up.

Val? Was that Mom?

VAL: Yeah, uh...she’s stuck.

She wants us to start without

her. I would have picked up but

I was just so interested in the

Senator’s...story.

SENATOR KEELEY: Oh, it

wasn’t that good.

ARMAND: It was wonderful.

Will you excuse me? I think

I should tell Agador Spartacus

this news.

He gets up and tries to leave. But

has trouble fi nding the parting

in the gold curtains. Eventually,

he falls through the gap.

INT. ARMAND AND ALBERT’S

HOME — NIGHT

Armand (Robin Williams) and

his son Val (Dan Futterman) are

entertaining Senator Keeley

(Gene Hackman) and his wife

Louise (Dianne Wiest), the

parents of Val’s fiancée, Barbara

(Calista Flockhart). And, to hide

Armand’s sexuality, they’re

pretending he’s straight and

married to a woman. While

waiting for Val’s mother Katharine

(Christine Baranski) to arrive to

complete the subterfuge, the

Senator embarks on a little story.

VAL:How was your trip,

Senator?

SENATOR KEELEY:Hmmm?

Oh, nice trip. Yeah, very nice.

LORENE SCAFARIA: “The Birdcageis
a perfect film because all the tension is
comingfrom the fact that everybody’s trying
to do right by each other. And there’s a
moment where Gene Hackman’s character
starts talking about foliage. It’s one of the
most boring stories of all time. And without
fail when I watch it, tears shoot out of my
eyes. It’s a perfect scene.”

CLASSIC

SCENE

Standout sequences

from the

great movies