CYRANO DE BERGERAC
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: For those unafraid of subtitled films,
there is a lot to like in the new film production of CYRANO
DE BERGERAC. The play is excellent and this is perhaps the
best production of the play ever done. Rating: +3 (-4 to
+4).
Over the past twelve months or so we have seen releases of film versions of three classic stage plays: Brannagh's HENRY V, Zeffirilli's HAMLET, and Jean-Paul Rappeneau's CYRANO DE BERGERAC. For production quality and for entertainment value I find it very easy to pick HAMLET for third place. Choosing between first and second place is somewhat harder, but for both production quality and pure entertainment value I give the edge to CYRANO. This is likely to remain the best adaptation of the story to film we will see in our lifetimes and very likely the most entertaining, even if we include Steve Martin's popular modern reframing ROXANNE.
CYRANO DE BERGERAC is, of course, an adaptation of Edmond Rostand's popular play, first presented in 1897. (Rostand took some poetic liberty, incidentally, but Cyrano was a genuine historic figure who was soldier, expert swordsman, poet, playwright, philosopher, and even a science fiction writer. His best-known literary work today is A VOYAGE TO THE MOON, which is why Rostand put so many references to moon travel in the play. Cyrano suggested several means of extra-terrestrial propulsion, mostly absurd, but on one he got lucky. Cyrano de Bergerac was the man who first suggested that space travel might be possible using rocket propulsion.) The story is of the noble swordsman who would like to woo his beautiful cousin but is stigmatized by his own prodigious nose. When it turns out that an inarticulate but handsome soldier under Cyrano's command also loves her, Cyrano agrees to help the soldier. The soldier will provide the good looks and Cyrano will provide the words. The story packs into a surprisingly small space comedy, tragedy, drama, action, and adventure.
This production cost seventeen million dollars and, taking into account modern production costs, that was something of a bargain, considering the number of detailed sets, costumes, and even battle scenes. Presumably shooting in Hungary kept prices down. Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau co- authored the script with Jean-Claude Carriere, editing down the Rostand and occasionally adding some of their own lines. The film is in French with English subtitles by novelist Anthony Burgess, who had previously translated the play. The producers decided that for each foreign language in which the film would be subtitled, they would get where possible the best-known translator of the play into that language to do the subtitles for the film. Gerard Depardieu has a very natural style as Cyrano that Jose Ferrer lacked in the previously best-known film version. His nose also looks surprisingly real, thanks to the contributions of Michele Burke, who receives on-screen credit for creating the nose. Special notice should be given to a fine score by Jean-Claude Petit, who produced many very good themes. For action scenes his score sounds not unlike Danny Elfman's score for BATMAN, but Petit also has some very melodic themes for other emotions. CYRANO DE BERGERAC is a top-flight production. I give it a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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