The real Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655) was a French soldier,
satirist, and dramatist who was born in Paris and educated by a priest in Bergerac.
He was a noble man who wrote many books on voyages. Some credit him for coming
up with the idea of using a rocket to travel to space. How he became the character
we know and love in Edmond Rostand’s drama, Cyrano de Bergarac,
is, well, still a mystery.
Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (played by Gerard Depardieu),
a soldier and poet, is cursed with an enormous nose. Believing that even the
ugliest of people can’t love him because of his unfortunate nose, he uses
his talents as a poet and master swordsman to claim his fame in France. He falls
in love with his beautiful and wealthy cousin, Roxane, (Anne Brochet) but refuses
to let her know his feelings because he thinks that she will never love him.
He then learns that she is in love with a Christian de Neuvelliette (Vincent
Perez), a handsome soldier in his regiment and that she wants his help in bringing
them together.
Christian is a dashing man, however he is tongue-tied and unable to romance
Roxane. The heartbroken Cyrano decides to help Christian by using his poetic
talents to woo Roxane. All his efforts lead to a quick marriage just before
Cyrano and Christian are summoned to war. When Christian realizes that Roxane
is in love with the man that wrote the letters, he tells Cyrano that he must
tell Roxane the truth. Roxane must then chose who she wants to be with.
Now that we have the synopsis clear, let me start by telling you a story. My
senior year of high school my AP English teacher would make my class read classics
like Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
You would think that in an advanced placement class you would have to read a
book and discuss its cultural significance or how it may have influenced all
writing that came after it. But instead, my teacher would show us a movie based
on the book that we were reading. It was a good waste of tax dollars, but I
guess in high school I didn’t really care. Easy A means easy A. One book
that we read was Cyrano de Bergerac. And as the story goes,
instead of reading the book and discussing it, we watched the 1950 released
movie. It was good. This one is better.
Other versions of this film that have been released is the romantic comedy
Roxanne (1987) with Steve Martin. That movie was essentially
the story of Cyrano with an 80's spin to it. However good that movie might have
been, director Jean Paul Rappeneau does a good job bringing the story back to
its original version. Now I’m not really one for sappy movies or for tragedies,
however classic they may be, but watching this film really made me believe that
there is hope in the world for the not so attractive.
This film was released in 1990 and was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including
Best Foreign Film (France), one Golden Globe and three nominations at the Cannes
Film Festival. It isn’t hard to imagine why. The film captures Rostand’s
tale beautifully. Depardieu’s portrayal of Cyrano is exceptional, which
makes his Oscar nomination as best actor very deserving. He presents Cyrano
as an intelligent, witty, and warm character who on the outside seems to freely
and eloquently express his thoughts; however, on this inside, he is painfully
incapable of expressing his love to Roxane. Although Cyrano is disliked by many
and through his life has amassed a large number of enemies, he is a good man.
Depardieau successfully shows that and is able to draw sympathy from the audience
for his character.
Cyrano de Bergerac is in French but contains English and Spanish
subtitles. The only special feature included on the DVD is the original trailer.
This film definitely doesn’t need any added features to make it better;
it’s good just as it is. It’s wonderful to watch and it’s
sure to make you believe that it's what’s inside that really matters.
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