Budgeted at $17 million, "Cyrano de Bergerac" is the costliest French film in history -- and certainly one of the finest. Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau gives Edmond Rostand's romantic classic a lavish production, but Cyrano is never lost in the spectacle. From the opening scene in which he takes on a theater full of pretentious actors to the grand tearjerking finale, Cyrano is always the center of attention, and Depardieu, full of wit, bravado and passion, rises to the challenge.
Obsessed with the lovely Roxane (Anne Brochet), Cyrano is unable to bring himself to declare his feelings for an all-too-obvious reason. "My nose precedes me by 15 minutes," he sulks.
When Roxane confesses her lust for an attractive but dense cadet named Christian (Vincent Perez) in Cyrano's regiment, Cyrano at first tries to dissuade her (she speaks longingly of Christian's curly hair, while Cyrano warns "his brains may be curly, too"), but he finally relents, using his gift for penning passionate prose to get them together.
Rappeneau brings out all the comedy in the wrongheaded wooing, particularly when the tongue-tied Christian has to speak for himself and can come up with little more than "I love you." "Embroider it!" begs Roxane, starved for more of Cyrano's luscious language. "I love you so much!" Christian answers.
"Cyrano" is also faithful to Rostand's original, unlike Steve Martin's 1987 update "Roxanne," which retained much of the material, but added a happy ending. With this and Franco Zeffirelli's exciting version of "Hamlet" both in release, it's a great time for rediscovering the classics.
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