Cyrano

Grade: B-

Edmond Rostand was a clever wordsmith. His text leaps off the page into our ears and hearts, and is a delight to take in. His Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 which, deservedly, has had numerous adaptations, updates, and remakes. A favorite of many, I’m sure, was 1987’s splendidly charming Roxanne, with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.

I was struck by how much Rostand’s words pop when viewing the most recent incarnation – Cyrano. The title character is madly in love with Roxanne. She is enamored with Christian, who is terribly handsome, but struggles to express himself well. Cyrano has an unusual physical trait which many might consider an obstacle (in the original, and most versions, it’s a large protruding nose) – but has a way with words, and knows what Roxanne likes to hear. Cyrano helps Christian out by ghostwriting romantic letters to Roxanne, that Christian passes off as his own – and in doing so, Cyrano gets to speak to Roxanne in his own way.

Joe Wright is the director of this 2021 Cyrano. He helmed Darkest Hour – the Winston Churchill biopic that got Gary Oldman an Oscar. That was one of the worst movies I’ve seen in 20 years; he can’t help but do better here. Peter Dinklage is our Cyrano. Since it’s him, as you may guess, rather than a big nose, the notable trait here is that he’s a little person. I have never watched Game of Thrones. I know Dinklage from Elf, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and I Care a Lot. If you want an interesting train wreck off the beaten path, he played Robin Williams’s brother in a dark comedy/drama called The Angriest Man in Brooklyn. I didn’t like that movie, but I almost recommend it, because I was fascinated by how consistently it managed to fail, even in scenes where succeeding would have been the path of less resistance. I’ve seen it twice.

Back to Cyrano. Dinklage is always welcome, and is a fine choice for this title character. He brings a confidence that you have to admire. Though he be but little, he is fierce. Haley Bennett caught my eye as one of the most significant things about Hillbilly Elegy last year. She is our Roxanne here, and does her best, but isn’t given the greatest resources to work with. This is a musical. The songs, except for one notable outlier I’ll get to in a minute, are forgettable and never take off. Part of the problem is the way they end – or don’t end. Musical theater audiences tend to prefer a psychologically satisfying final button at the end of a song. It puts a nice period on things. I don’t recall anything in Cyrano having a clean-cut flourishy finish; everything seems to instead fade out into dialogue. We don’t get a chance to have the catharsis of a number ending, because the film keeps undercutting itself. The sound mixing was problematic for me, but that may have been due to the system at the theater I attended, or my seat location. The background music overpowered all lead vocals, which didn’t do the actors any favors.

There is one song that I thought was fantastic. “Wherever I Fall.” Three soldiers in the war each take a verse and tell their story. But even here, we don’t get to have a conclusion, as it fizzles away into underscoring for dialogue. The movie simultaneously manages to run too long and end too abruptly. There was a lot of potential here. I really like Dinklage and Bennett, and the way the film looked – especially the sets. But alas, we ultimately end up with an adaptation with lackluster (possibly unnecessary) songs that can never quite achieve lift-off because they are in a movie that keeps yanking the rug out from under itself.

Grade: B-