Rated: M
Directed by: Joe Wright
Screenplay by: Erica Schmidt
Based on: The stage musical adapted and directed by Erica Schmidt, from ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ by Edmond Rostand, with music by Aaron & Bryce Dessner and lyrics by Matt Berninger & Carin Besser
Music by: Bryce Dessner & Aaron Dessner
Produced by: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Guy Heeley
Executive Produced by: Erica Schmidt, Sarah-Jane Robinson, Sherraz Shah, Lucas Webb, Matt Berninger, Carin Besser, Aaron Dessner
Starring: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Ben Mendelsohn.
‘My sole purpose on this earth is to love Roxanne (Haley Bennett),’ laments Cyrano (Peter Dinklage).
He at least has the decency to be a little embarrassed of the words uttered to his friend, Le Bret (Bashir Salahuddin).
It’s not the flowery words that embarrass Cyrano, but that he has admitted his love for the unreachable.
He is a midget and she a great beauty to be worshiped.
Cyrano and Roxanne are friends. Best friends. If he told her of his true feelings, he would lose her forever.
Cyrano sighs as he states, ‘I am living proof that God has a sick sense of humour.’
Pursued by the Duke De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn), Roxanne’s loved by many.
The Duke is rich, she’s poor. Her handmaiden (Monica Dolan) reminds her, ‘Children need love. Adults need money.’
Roxanne wants love more than anything. And thinks she’s found it when she sees the dashing soldier, Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) for the first time.
It’s love at first sight.
Christian is handsome but without a sharp wit. It’s up to Cyrano to write letters on Christian’s behalf, to write all the things he’s ever wanted to tell Roxanne. Only to be signed by Christian.
Cyrano is a musical romance set at a time of puppet shows, lace and ribbons, duels and corsets.
Not my favourite flavour of film.
I promised myself to keep an open mind.
Expect singing from the outset.
And also some great lines from Cyrano like, ‘Would you defend this… sausage?!’ He describes an actor wearing a red frizzy wig and well past his used-by date.
I quote the dialogue often because there is just so much to quote; the words, the lyrics roll like waves throughout the film.
The love story does cloy with Roxanne’s demand of a handsome Christian filled with handsome words – with the expectation of nothing less.
It’s all very pretty and irritating with the ink on the paper of the first letter making her nervous.
But wow, there are some spectacular scenes of clever camera work of sword fighting and the audience back-and-forth in the theatre; the quiet of breathing.
And then the tears started.
It wasn’t the love story that got me, but the soldiers singing the words of their letter to be sent to their loved ones back home. The lyrics here are beautiful in their lack of sentiment. That’s what got to me: the clear-sighted expression of feeling.
The words and lyrics of the film are more like poetic truth than song.
Yes, there are irritating, long-winded moments but Peter Dinklage as Cyrano has a way of balancing the sweetness of the romance with a wry wit.
And once the tears started, the rest of the film built on that emotion.
So I admit, I got into a musical romance.