“Cyrano” - Film Review
Director Joe Wright’s Cyrano is a musical adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play, Cyrano de Bergerac. In this adaptation, Peter Dinklage stars as the titular Cyrano, a prolific poet and skillful swordsman. The movie forgoes the usually scripted large nose of Cyrano for Dinklage’s actual form of dwarfism, achondroplasia. Cyrano fears that the woman he loves, Roxanne (Haley Bennett), will not see past his height to love him the way he loves her. His self-consciousness compounds when he learns that Roxanne has fallen in love at first sight with Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a new soldier in Cyrano’s regiment. Unlike Cyrano, Christian does not have a way with words and asks Cyrano to help him write love letters to Roxanne. Christian will be the face and Cyrano will be the voice, and together they will make Roxanne fall in love.
Cyrano is dazzling, spellbinding, and swept up. What Wright does so well is personify the ache of yearning. In Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Atonement, the longing of love permeates the screen and becomes a palpable, enduring force. Look no further than the famed Hand Flex from Pride and Prejudice (2005). While Cyrano does have its more articulate declarations of love, Wright’s trademark appreciation for quiet yearning is prevalent. Dinklage’s melancholy, Bennett’s breathlessness, and Harrison Jr.’s exuberance are all components of the same emotion. They are all in love, but it is manifesting and playing out in each of them differently. So much is revealed by the smallest of actions of these performances, in the nuance of a breath exhaled or caught in a throat.
Cyrano benefits from the lovelorn style of music that made the band The National a household name in the indie rock world. With music written by band members Aaron and Bryce Dessner and lyrics written by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser (not a band member, but a longtime contributing lyricist), plus a closing credits song written and performed by the full band, The National’s fingerprints are all over the film’s DNA. While the musical numbers are thoroughly modern and sound like they would be right at home on a traditional The National album, they also have an operatic quality that is perfect for the dramatics of this classic tale.
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One of the most memorable songs is the opening number, a subdued ballad sung by Roxanne called “Someone to Say.” The melody and lyrics are also repeated at a variety of moments throughout the film. It’s a simple, desperate desire to have someone to love and share life with. Part of what makes the original story of Cyrano de Bergerac so enduring is the human desire to be in love, to fully understand what the poets write about. Or, to be someone so full of love and needing to write love poems to get all the feelings out. Somehow, throughout history, Romeo and Juliet became the go-to classic for lovers, but Cyrano cuts much deeper. It plays on insecurities, honesty, and unrequited love. Despite the fact that it was written in 1897, these hopes, fears, and emotions are all relevant today.
In a way, the movie’s relevance is comforting. These feelings connect humanity throughout time and can unite people living more than a century apart. There’s a scene early in the film when Cyrano thinks Roxanne is working up to confessing her love for him, but she’s actually admitting her love for Christian. Dinklage’s performance in that scene (and the entire movie) is exquisite. The joy on his face flickers, a grimace takes over, and then a pained smile appears, because not only does he love Roxanne, but she is one of his oldest friends. As much as it’s killing him that she doesn’t love him the way he loves her, Cyrano wants her to be happy. Those difficult, impossible, contradictory emotions are recognizable to anyone living in any era.
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Those going into Cyrano expecting a more traditional musical experience may leave disappointed. The songs don’t move the plot along. Instead, they’re much more internal affairs, focusing on the feelings of the characters. Given that the story of Cyrano de Bergerac is about quiet, internal emotions, it would feel disingenuous for the numbers to be more external, boisterous song-and-dance numbers. Composers Aaron and Bryce Dessner and songwriters Matt Berninger and Carin Besser have created songs that encompass the way emotions feel cinematic and all-consuming without losing the personal essence. “Every Letter” manages to show the intimacy of letter-writing, the way you can crave words on a page, and how intoxicating it is to read as someone falls in love with you.
Cyrano is an unashamedly, heart-on-its-sleeve labor of love. Not just in the subject matter, but behind the scenes as well. Screenwriter Erica Schmidt is married to Dinklage, director Wright is married to Bennett, and songwriters Berninger and Besser are married. The movie is simmering with desire and is an ode to the way love hurts, heals, and keeps us alive.
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