glen-parry
Joined Jul 2007
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Reviews3
glen-parry's rating
Even 30 years after first watching this series one is still held in awe at the scope of its achievement.
The ideas of Eratosthanes, Hypathia & Keppler were all introduced to me by this series, in such a way that they became instantly both understandable & inspiring.
Every imaginable achievement of human knowledge & science are covered and leave the viewer with a thirst for more & the desire to go off & find out the answers to the questions that are burning in their heads.
It truly should be made compulsory viewing for all school children; & repeated on terrestrial television for those who missed it the first time around.
One honestly cannot praise this series enough.
The ideas of Eratosthanes, Hypathia & Keppler were all introduced to me by this series, in such a way that they became instantly both understandable & inspiring.
Every imaginable achievement of human knowledge & science are covered and leave the viewer with a thirst for more & the desire to go off & find out the answers to the questions that are burning in their heads.
It truly should be made compulsory viewing for all school children; & repeated on terrestrial television for those who missed it the first time around.
One honestly cannot praise this series enough.
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.
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.
From the opening credits; which have elements of "Pulp Fiction" in their appearance of tearing pages, to the final concert scene this is a tour de force of how to shoot a film.
Fine, the plot may not be that deep: celebrity is kidnapped, ex-boyfriend returns to rescue her (for cash - ostensibly), they fall in love again, but boyfriend realises it can never work out, ultra-bad guys, damsels in distress & a reluctant hero (even elements of the sort of interpretation of honour that went out of fashion in the 18th century, but it works wonderfully in the context of the, fantasy, 1950's(ish) world in which it is set.
The cast is just about perfect for the roles they portray.
Daine Lane: beautiful enough that the audience understands why the villain should want to kidnap her, without taking away from the idea that it is her singing talent that has got her to where she is today.
Michael Pare, really does provide the John Wayne style performance that his role requires of him.
Whilst Willem Dafoe is truly menacing in his portrayal of Raven; the truly evil gang leader.
The big surprise performance comes from Rick Moranis. For someone who made his name playing the nerdy nice guy, his portrayal of the rather unlikeable Billy Fish comes as a revelation.
Where this film really scores for me though is with the scenery & lighting.
I remember the film's revue on the BBC at the time of its release & it being commented that virtually all of it was filmed on a sound stage, but you'd never believe it. Concert halls, city street &, even, a red light district are all made to look so believable.
Add to this a cracking sound track; with two of Jim Stienman's best ever songs to open & close the film, & you have 90 minutes of pure entertainment that; having watched it every time it came on TV since it came out & hunted round until I found the DVD, I would recommend to anyone .
Fine, the plot may not be that deep: celebrity is kidnapped, ex-boyfriend returns to rescue her (for cash - ostensibly), they fall in love again, but boyfriend realises it can never work out, ultra-bad guys, damsels in distress & a reluctant hero (even elements of the sort of interpretation of honour that went out of fashion in the 18th century, but it works wonderfully in the context of the, fantasy, 1950's(ish) world in which it is set.
The cast is just about perfect for the roles they portray.
Daine Lane: beautiful enough that the audience understands why the villain should want to kidnap her, without taking away from the idea that it is her singing talent that has got her to where she is today.
Michael Pare, really does provide the John Wayne style performance that his role requires of him.
Whilst Willem Dafoe is truly menacing in his portrayal of Raven; the truly evil gang leader.
The big surprise performance comes from Rick Moranis. For someone who made his name playing the nerdy nice guy, his portrayal of the rather unlikeable Billy Fish comes as a revelation.
Where this film really scores for me though is with the scenery & lighting.
I remember the film's revue on the BBC at the time of its release & it being commented that virtually all of it was filmed on a sound stage, but you'd never believe it. Concert halls, city street &, even, a red light district are all made to look so believable.
Add to this a cracking sound track; with two of Jim Stienman's best ever songs to open & close the film, & you have 90 minutes of pure entertainment that; having watched it every time it came on TV since it came out & hunted round until I found the DVD, I would recommend to anyone .