Maria (Rita Blanco) and her husband Jose (Joaquim De Almeida) are a working-class Portuguese couple who have lived in Paris for more than 30 years. She is the indispensable concierge at a luxury building where they live in a small apartment on the ground floor. He is a dependable construction foreman who is always going the extra mile on his projects for his upper-middle-class boss Francis (Roland Giraud).
When this couple discover that they have inherited a large house and wine business in Portugal outside Porto, they cannot believe their good fortune. But their teenage son Pedro (Alex Alves Pereira) doesn't know whether he wants to leave behind his friends in Paris whereas their adult daughter Paula (Barbara Cabrita) has fallen in love with Charles (Lannick Gautry), the wealthy son of Jose's boss. And, last but not least, Maria's sister Lourdes (Jacqueline Corado) has dreams of opening a Portuguese restaurant with Maria and is determined to do everything within her power to convince her to stay in Paris.
Ruben Alves directs this appealing comedy about two decent, hard-working people whose lives are given a new direction by an unexpected inheritance. They are so used to putting the needs of others above their own that they keep their news a secret until the last possible moment. It is rare to see such goodness rewarded in such a splendid way. The screenplay by Alves, Hugo Gelin, and Jean-Andre Yerles lifts our spirits and sends us on our way with a smile on our face. The Gilded Cage provides a lively illustration of the truth of this Chinese proverb: "The pleasure of doing good is the only one that will not wear out."
Screened at Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2014, Lincoln Center, New York.
