Film Fridays-Cyrano

This one is a slight stretch but I’m including a post about it because it’s my blog and I can do what I want.

I LOVE musicals. I had no idea 2021’s Cyrano was a musical until I checked out a copy from my library. It’s not a story I had been familiar with prior to Peter Dinklage signing on to the project, though the title of the original text, Cyrano de Bergerac is one I recognize as culturally important. I don’t feel as though my enjoyment was impacted by less familiarity with the source material, as the story is easy enough to follow.

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, premiered on the French stage in 1897, becoming a near-instant success. Cyrano as a character is brilliant, educated, charming, honorable, and a military genius. Yet he considers himself unworthy of a woman’s love, owing to his perceived disfigurements and hideous countenance. His long-standing friendship with penniless Roxanne occupies his mind nearly constantly, as his love for Roxanne he feels is an unrequited and impossible imposition.

In the original play, and indeed in the stage adaptations of the text, Cyrano’s disfigurement is his face, his nose in particular. Actors playing the role in the past have adorned ridiculously overlarge prosthetic noses, like these:

In an interview given to Kyle Buchanan of the New York Times, Dinklage stated of Cyrano:

I’m an actor, I’ve worn prosthetics before, but the pretense of that didn’t jive with me. I’d always thought, “What’s the big deal? You get to take that off at the end of the show.” And then Erica removed it and I thought I had to play this part because now it’s about a guy who doesn’t know what to do in the face of love, who has nothing to blame but himself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/movies/peter-dinklage-cyrano.html

Even in the original text, once it becomes clear the only person who cares about Cyrano’s appearance is Cyrano himself, he cannot seem to let go of his bitter hurt. He has waited until the last possible moment to be honest with Roxanne, though he tells her:

In the fairy tale, when Beauty said, “I love you,” to the prince, his ugliness melted away like snow in the warmth of the sun, but as you can see, those words have no such magic effect on me.

Act V Scene VI

I love the choice to not change Peter Dinklage’s appearance for the role, because I think an argument could be made the original Cyrano was likely not as horrendous as he perceived himself. With Dinklage, Cyrano becomes instead a dwarf, subject to the social perceptions, stereotypes, and negative connotations that come with that. I am clearly not a member of that community, and feel therefore I am not the best person to discuss the nuance of social perception and dwarfism. In another interview Dinklage himself sums it up well:

“A lot of people think my height is the reason Cyrano is insecure about showing his love to Roxanne, but it really isn’t,” says Dinklage, who has spent a lifetime answering questions about his physical condition. “It’s more universal than a nose or whether someone is shorter than someone else. It’s that feeling we have of being unworthy of love and insecure about who we are.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/peter-dinklage-interview-cyrano-game-of-thrones-b1987343.html

Because Cyrano is so afraid to confess his true feelings, he assists Christian in wooing Roxanne instead. Christian is physically attractive, and has been noticed by Roxanne from across the room. He is, however, lacking wit if not bravery, and needs the help of Cyrano to stand a chance with the clever Roxanne.

The film is gorgeous. Directed by Joe Wright, whose prior films include 2005’s ever-popular Pride and Prejudice:

And also the incredibly painful and deeply moving 2007 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Atonement (also starring Kiera Knightley).

I had to include a picture or reference to that office scene in Atonement, though. If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically just the most sensuous sex scene I’ve ever seen in a movie, and I think it’s the combination of acting, music, and cinematography.

So, I’m clearly predisposed to enjoy Joe Wright as a director. I also love musicals, combining these two things seems like a match made in heaven. And I did love Cyrano a whole lot, from the music (written for the stage production upon which the film is modeled by the Indie band The National) to the costumes, the choreography, the singing, and the breathtaking sets.

This still comes from an excellent scene showcasing Roxanne reading a letter sent to her, ostensibly by Christian, but we know was written by Cyrano. He has told Christian “I’ll lend you mine! [eloquence] Lend me your conquering physical charm, and together we’ll form a romantic hero!” (Act II Scene X) and he certainly does.

In the film we are not given all of Cyrano’s words, simply shown the effect they have on Roxanne. There really should be a music video for her song “Every Letter” but alas, only stills. I can feel the importance of these letters as physical objects every time Roxanne is shown on screen with paper in hand, she falls in love with the man in her letters, and that’s an important distinction.

You light up desire just by describing it

I read to myself until I go blind

Your words fall around me

All through the night

I cant resist and I don’t want to fight

Dim the lights give me everything, I want

Just talk to me like you do in your songs

Lyrics from “Every Letter” music by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Lyrics by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser

Just, look at this gorgeous woman, though:

I mean, COME ON, I’m obsessed with everything going on here:

There IS one music video for the film, officially, though I think it’s of my least favorite song from early on in the movie. It features Christian, played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., and is called “Someone to Say.” I think Harrison is absolutely gorgeous, a requirement for the role, but I found his singing less compelling. Or maybe I just was so much more into Cyrano that I wasn’t taken in by Christian? The choreography is stunning, regardless.

If I have one negative comment, it would be the slight lack of depth I felt. I was drawn to Cyrano because Dinklage is a power house, and to Roxanne because Haley Bennet is both gorgeous and talented, with a powerhouse of a voice, but not because of their characters. In reading the original play, I have found Cyrano as a character to be, if not more likeable, perhaps more clever and charismatic. What Dinklage cuts from his performance bogs down the titular character in self-depreciating agony; Dinklage’s Cyrano is likeable, but perhaps much more frustrating in his inaction and fear. That level of anxiety is much more relatable, for me, however, and I think it’s a realistic twist on a character never meant to be wholly real.

Final Thoughts

I loved the film, I will probably watch it again in the not too distant future, which is not the norm for me. I think the implication of Cyrano de Bergerac as a man who is not actually deformed, just so caught in his own perceptions of himself and the assumptions of society’s treatment towards him is powerful and important. Go watch it, for sure.