Until yesterday, I’d never seen the Les Miz version of Cyrano de Bergerac… you know, the version with singing and pathos and sobriety and pure tragedy. There’s a fatal flaw in presenting this material as tragic instead of comic – the relationship between Cyrano and Roxanne is based on such deception that no matter how much we sympathize with the man, we know he probably doesn’t deserve the ending he craves.
But don’t let that stop you from enjoying Joe Wright’s vision; I don’t think Cyrano has ever been played with more depth than by Peter Dinklage here.
It’s about time we saw a truly “flawed” Cyrano. “Oh no, he has a big nose.” Get over yourself, Roxanne, audience. I do not know what the current correct PC term is for dwarfism, but that’s a genuine issue. Ugly can be dealt with; good luck finding a cure for the situation where the woman stands two feet taller than the man. Beauty may well be in the eye of the beholder, but that won’t ever make Peter Dinklage six feet tall.
This vision Cyrano is actually a love quadrilateral. The comely Roxanne (Haley Bennett) has attracted the attentions of three potential suitors: Cyrano (Dinklage), Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr) and the Duke (Ben Mendelsohn). As the introduction plays, Roxanne indulges the Duke. She can’t smile without his enormous … wallet. On the way to the theater, Roxanne laments in song “Someone to Say,” an homage to hopeful romantic longing which is so common in Cyrano that everybody gets a reprisal verse before the film ends.
The play by Edmond Rostand is another classic tale my readers should know pretty well, but just in case you don’t: Roxanne is a young knockout. Cyrano ain’t. He’s a talented fellow in many ways, but not taken seriously as a romantic lead (usually because of an enormous nose). Cyrano is in love with Roxanne, but unwilling to put his heart on the line. Roxanne, a friend, confesses her own love to Cyrano … for NOT
Cyrano, but a young handsome man –in this case, Christian- in Cyrano’s company.
Christian is handsome but a romantic pinhead. He seeks Cyrano’s help to woo Roxanne through words; this is a mistake on so many levels, the biggest of which is the main plot of the tale, that Cyrano not only becomes Christian’s muse; he becomes Christian’s voice. Figuring this is the only way to vent his unrequited love, Cyrano gets into the wooing like he’s being paid by the swoon.
This won’t end well. This can’t end well. And those who spent their teen years being stuffed in lockers will recognize the dynamic of haplessness all too well — the nerd does all the work while the BMOC -who should need no help- gets the girl.
I don’t know that any depiction of Cyrano has truly captured the longing, the angst, the heartache of wanting-not-getting as Peter Dinklage. Perhaps it is due to the task being truly impossible … or perhaps there’s an acting depth to Dinklage that never comes through in people like Steve Martin and Gerard Depardieu. Despite the performance and the music, however, I found this version flawed. This film comes off much more like Les Miz than it ought to and there’s something about Roxanne –nice as she is- being a little too demand-y for my tastes—what do you want, woman? He’s young, he’s handsome, he’s crazy about you, and (as far as you know) he writes you the best love letters in France; WTF more do you need? Another suitor? You’ve already got too many.
Roxanne is still my favorite version of the Edmond Rostand play, but hopeless romantics will find this version satisfying all the same.
♪We don’t poke fun at Cyrano, no
We don’t rag on that Cyrano, no
A 4’ 2” frame
But skillz with the sword
If you call him names
You’ll get your “reward”
Yeah, he’ll cut right down to size
Until you can look him in the eyes
We don’t poke fun at Cyrano, no
We don’t rag on that Cyrano, no♫
Rated PG-13, 123 Minutes
Director: Joe Wright
Writer: Erica Schmidt
Genre: Romance?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Those who seek and never find
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Achondroplasiaphobes
♪ Parody Inspired by “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”
