Cyrano de Bergerac

How can one even begin to describe the greatness of this film? Forget that it is subtitled; this soon becomes immaterial as the translation is perfect, or that a couple of very minor scenes from the play were omitted, it is impossible to think of a greater example of cinematography than was achieved here.

Gerard Depardieu; in his first internationally acclaimed role, gives an early inkling of the talent that he would later display in, "The Man in the Iron Mask". At times he is comic, haughty, tragic & noble.

Cyrano ceases to be a dramatic creation & becomes a real human being with whom we can empathise & be brought, almost, to the point of tears at the point of his death. Depardieu creates a man very much of his time; never mind Edmund Rostand's writing it is Depardieu who brings the character described as every actor's dream to life. He is believable, noble & generates sympathy in the viewer.

Anne Brochet's Roxanne is beautiful. It is clear from early on that she is an intellectual (described as "precieuse") but shallow, who we see developing as the story evolves.

Vincent Perez is convincing as Christain: handsome & with fairly base objectives, but developing through association with Cyrano & honourable.

Even Jacques Weber portrays De Guiche in such a way that we can accept his, later, friendship with Cyrano & never truly induces the feelings of hatred that so many villains evoke in the viewer.

The colours & lighting in the film are exceptional; a sign of the care that were invested in making it as historically accurate as possible, with soft, muted shades replacing the garish colours that have flawed so many depictions of the period, whilst it soon becomes evident that Rapineau wanted to ensure that the word epic would be truly applicable to this production.

As a piece of romantic fiction this film cannot be bettered & would be ideal for those wanting to settle down for an evening with someone really special. Whatever you do see this film.