“Cyrano” (2021) is the newest musical iteration of the life of Cyrano de Bergerac. This simple story told so many times before, has been minorly reimagined, placed on top of a wonderful score and put in the hands of a fantastic cast to create a very watchable albeit imperfect movie.
Whether you know it or not, everyone has heard the story of Cyrano. An intelligent, witty man falls in love with a woman, but because of a superficial barrier (what in the original story was a large nose is now represented by Cyrano’s (Peter Dinklage) dwarfism), he assumes she would not love him back. The man proceeds to write the woman letters sent under the name of a more conventionally attractive man. The woman, most often called Roxanne, ultimately falls in love with the letters more so than the conventionally attractive man that claimed to have written them, and the story ends with Roxanne and Cyrano professing their love. The story is centuries old and has been told through musicals, stage plays, a Steve Martin movie, a 2018 high school rom-com called “#Roxy” and many more mediums.
It is a feat to captivate an audience through a story they already know. Especially when that story takes over two hours to reach its conclusion. “Cyrano” succeeded in captivating but the praise for that success falls much more in the lap of Peter Dinklage and the Dessner brothers, who composed the film, than that of its writers.
The movie is filled with talented actors. Roxanne (Haley Bennet) and De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn) both have great moments and portray their characters very effectively. Similarly, some single scene characters such as Valvert (Joshua James) or the singers of “Wherever I Fall,” gave memorable emotional performances. But far and away, the good entertaining scenes in “Cyrano” are the result of Peter Dinklage as the titular character. From his first appearance, Cyrano draws the attention of the audience. He shows such an emotional range as well as physical versatility in dance numbers and duels. Cyrano is not just a good protagonist, he is likable, sympathetic and consistently funny. Dinklage’s portrayal convincingly paints an intelligent, witty, fierce fighter; lovelorn and simultaneously set on proving himself as a soldier.
The film’s written dialogue is not lacking per se, but given the movie’s uphill battle towards distinction, without Peter Dinklage and the many great performances supporting him, the movie would not be worth watching. This becomes particularly clear in non-musical scenes of inevitable tribulations and squabbles. No one enjoys watching characters pouting over issues easily solved via a single conversation, especially when the audience already knew the issue was going to occur in the storyline.
“Cyrano” has the first original movie musical soundtrack since “La La Land” I will listen to repeatedly, long after I have seen the film. The Dessner Brothers created such a specific theme in this soundtrack. With varying notes of folk, classical orchestral and traditional Broadway and lyrics ranging from snippy silly conversation to heart-wrenching ballads about grief and love this soundtrack is truly unique and always entertaining. It listens nearly as well as an independent soundtrack as it does in accompaniment of the film. A personal favorite is the previously mentioned “Wherever I Fall: Part 1,” which brings tears to my eyes every time I listen to it.
While I found this film largely made up for its banal plot, others more familiar with Cyrano de Bergerac than I may still find the movie tedious. I note this primarily because the older man sitting behind me in the movie theater made his contempt and boredom toward the film known and if he felt so strongly then that his voice deserved to be heard, I suppose I ought to give him a platform now.
