Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)

Strong and Moving!

Let's be realistic.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

There is a Cyrano Bergerac in majority of men. The man who can fight with hundred at a time, but doesn't have the courage to express his love. His complex, his fear is something which I myself have experienced in life. Apart from all this what makes Cyrano special is the happiness he finds in making his loved one happy. Even if that means letting her unite with the man she loves. As Cyrano himself says towards the end - " While I was down there in darkness, others climbed up and kissed the flower". This one line is valid not just in the life of Cyrano but many of us around. The film is filled with similar heart pleasing one liners. If ever you thought you are a loser who cant win hearts, turn on to this masterpiece. There is a beauty in being a loser. A beauty that is eternal..

Cyrano De Bergerac was a very energetic and passionate movie. The actor that played Cyrano did such a great job. The enthusiasm and power that he put into the role was amazing. I love how Cyrano was so prideful. He had his own path and he did not care who he angered. I also enjoyed how the ending was not a happy ending. I feel the way they ended it was more believable than the way an American would of ended it, with the guy getting the girl and living happily ever after. The directer is Jean-Paul Rappeneau. He is a french film director, screenwriter, and actor. Rappeneau is known for creating the most elaborate film version of Cyrano De Bergerac. The film was one of the most expensive French films ever produced. A great idea is the idea about how people think very superficial about themselves. This idea is seen throughout the whole film. In the beginning Cyrano freaks out at a man in the theater and ends up in a sword and word battle with the guy because he makes fun of his nose. Also Cyrano feels no woman would want him just because of his nose. Even in the end when he is told that Roxanne loved whoever wrote the letters and did not care if the person was ugly, Cyrano still waited until his death was eminent to let her know he wrote the letters. Another good idea is that a man should stand up for what he believes in. Cyrano shows this constantly throughout the movie. First when he is in the bathhouse and Comte De Guiche comes to ask him a question. Cyrano could get one of his plays put on stage but he would have to join Comte De Guiche. Cyrano basically spits in his face and does not respect the man. The largest thing that stood out to me that made this movie French was the fact that it did not have a happy ending. If this were an American film Cyrano would of ended with Roxanne and Christian would not of died. But with having Christian die and Cyrano not tell Roxanne he loves her we get this interesting ending where no one ends up happy. It has a very dark Shakespearian feel to it. Another thing from the movie that was very French was that you were entertained by more words than fighting. In an American film there would of been more fighting and less word play, but in the French movie the people are more proud of being able to speak more diverse than be rich.

Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)This is Gerard Depardieu's shining moment in an up and down career. Some say the movie makes a blur of the subtle writing and emotional power of the original play by Edmond Rostand of the same title, written in 1897. And as much as the English version by Jose Ferrar (1950) is the acclaimed English language version, the play was originally French. And it's all in verse, including the subtitles, which in this case use the translation by Anthony Burgess (of Clockwork Orange fame).But the story, the story. It's all about the simple amazing plot (about which Rostand was convicted, on slim evidence, of stealing from a Chicago amateur writer). The year is something like 1680, in France. A man of great talent and fighting skill, a deep emotional life and poetic sensibility, and also with a gigantic nose, is in love with Roxane. This is poor Cyrano, who has everything but good looks. And Roxane happens to be in love with a very good looking young man who is a bit of a talentless fool. Cyrano, out of love for Roxane, steps in to help the fool by writing letters for him that succeed in wooing the beautiful Roxane.If this sounds like that crazy movie called "Roxane" starring Steve Martin, well, you've got it. That's the Cyrano story, and Martin's movie sort of kicked off the contemporary deluge of Cyrano movies in 1987 (three years before this one). Of course his is a comedy, and there are some changes from the play and this 1990 version, which tries even in its grandiose production to be true to the tightly written and scripted original.It's all pretty terrific. In a way, if you like Shakespeare, it's the play that holds the whole thing back a bit, lacking, oddly enough, complexity. An example is the funny but thin asides with the cake maker who wants to be a poet. There is no shortage of characters, there is a constant turning of events, and it does never quite ever slow down, but the main trick and drama of the situation is so central and gripping you end up waiting for it to find some kind of denouement or twist and surprise. And you do eventually get that, with great beauty and pathos (this is no comedy). But that's sort of all you get, in terms of narrative flow.And that's almost all you need, I have to admit. This production pulls out all the stops, and scene after scene is amazing in its set design and lighting, in its huge range of characters and gritty lovely evocation of 17th Century France. You could watch a bad play with such sets. And the photography is fluid, active, and formally terrific, too, which layers up the ongoing beauty of the filming. And Depardieu is terrific in his bloated, leading man way (I say this because he has detractors, those who have seen searing and cutting intensity in stage versions, but I have nothing to compare it to except Steve Martin). The two other main characters are actually a drag overall, and avoidably, I should think, with all the talent being lavishly expended. Roxane is more delighted than delightful, ornamentally pretty but also so stiff emotionally you wonder what all the fuss is about. And the foolish pretty boy is probably meant to be a bit shallow as a character, but it does leave his parts a little cardboard.Anyway, I overthink this. See the movie. If you don't like subtitles, see the American one from 1950. Don't think the Steve Martin one is enough. For one thing, the original ending is one of the most moving and memorable in all of cinema. For me, the Depardieu version of this last great scene is unmatched.

Cyrano de Bergerac is one of the most perfect films made in French language.It is a film which must be shown to all connoisseurs of French culture as it makes for the most perfect introduction to French civilization.The greatness of Cyrano is universal as he teaches us some of the most essential human values such as friendship,love, sadness and trust.It is a film for which everybody has worked hard under the leadership of French auteur Jean Paul Rappeneau.There is an air of authenticity in the portrayal of France circa late 1900s.This has been achieved by creating magnificent sets,marvelous costumes and a cast of many junior artists.Jean Paul Rappeneau allows us to be transported to a time when innumerable duels were fought over women, pure love was omnipotent and poets and artists were venerated.When we watch this film,we come to realize that Gerard Depardieu is exceptionally great as troubled Cyrano who has hidden many deep secrets in his heart.It is due to the greatness of his personality that we choose to own his sadness in order to lessen his pain.There are no so many films which can have such an effect on movie goers. This is the best virtue of this historical drama.