1987 CYRANO DE BERGERAC FILM FULL
But nowhere is the full range of his skills better employed than here. His imposing physique would make the most of his role in Germinal (1993). Though mostly known for his gritty contemporary performances, in films such as Bertrand Blier’s Les Valseuses (1974, the actor’s breakthrough), Maurice Pialat’s Loulou (1980) and Police (1985), and Jean-Jacques Beineix’s The Moon and the Gutter (1983), Depardieu had previously made a strong impression in period films, from Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 (1976) and Daniel Vigue’s The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) to Andrzej Wajda’s Danton (1983) and arguably his most famous international role up until Cyrano, playing a poor farmer suffering at the hands of a malevolent neighbour in Claude Berri’s Jean de Florette (1986). And in his star, Gérard Depardieu, Rappenau drew out a revelatory performance.
Likewise, his verbal jousts are just as thrilling as his physical battles. Cyrano’s letters to Roxanne are playful and witty, but evince the longing that he feels for a woman he believes will never love him. Learning languages – as well as creating his own – had been a passion for the author and his version of the screenplay has a musicality that loses none of the original’s dexterity. The English translation was done by Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange and Salt of the Earth. And for once, English-language audiences were not short changed on its poetry. But like the play, the language is key to the film’s success.
From the hilarious opening, with Cyrano taking the stage at a theatre in order to chastise an actor he had previously banished from appearing before audiences, to the street and battle scenes, Rappeneau delights in the era. Rappeneau’s film faithfully recreates the world Rostand envisaged and unfolds on a grand scale.
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