maus@Morgan.COM (Malcolm Austin) (12/21/90)
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
A film review by Malcolm Austin
Copyright 1990 Malcolm Austin
This article is spoiler-free.
I saw CYRANO DE BERGERAC yesterday. It is by Jean-Paul Rappeneau,
and stars Gerard Depardieu in the title role. It is, of course, based
on the play by Edmund Rostand.
I am a long-time Cyrano fan. I have seen the Jose Ferrer version
several times, and seen it performed as a play twice. I have also read
two translations. And I'm not even counting Steve Martin's ROXANNE!
I went to this film expecting it to be great, and I have to admit I
was disappointed. I think this was partially my own nearly jaded
familiarity with the story, and partially a result of the film. In
particular, the sub-titles are the bane of this movie.
The film tries much harder than the Ferrer version to avoid seeming
like a play. The locations are detailed and look authentic. In many
ways the translation reminds me of Zefferelli's ROMEO AND JULIET. It is
beautifully shot, and the camera-work is top-notch. Depardieu gives
another wonderful performance, and the rest of the cast is up to his
level.
Despite being filmed as a movie, no liberties were taken with the
dialogue from the play, as far as I could tell, although at least a few
scenes were trimmed.
The film is in French, and, frankly, I think that this is why the
film kind of fell flat for me. The subtitles were excellent (written by
Anthony Burgess), but they were very distruptive, particularly when they
became idiomatic. Burgess went to great trouble, I think, to construct
rhyming subtitles when appropriate, but at times this causes a gap
between the sub-titles and the actual dialogue. There is also a lot of
dialogue, spoken very rapidly, and I found myself often straining to
keep up with the lines, and still look at the film itself.
Subtitles are a blunt instrument designed to allow a foreigner to
enjoy a film, and follow the plot. This film foils them. I am not
suggesting that the film such have been dubbed. That would have been
far worse. But this film depends heavily on language, and subtitling
is just not adequate.
There were several French speakers in the audience, and they were
rapt. During the final scene, many (all men!) were crying. This is how
I recall reacting when I saw the play, and read the book. This time,
though, I felt more emotion seeing the reactions of those around me,
than in seeing the film.
To sum up, this film is breath-taking and wonderful--if you speak
French. If not, you might actually prefer the English (Ferrer) version,
even though it is really a far inferior film. Better yet, see it as a
play.
--
Malcolm Austin -- maus@fid.morgan.com leeper@mtgzy.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) (03/13/91)
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: For those unafraid of subtitled films,
there is a lot to like in the new film production of CYRANO
DE BERGERAC. The play is excellent and this is perhaps the
best production of the play ever done. Rating: +3 (-4 to
+4).
Over the past twelve months or so we have seen releases of film
versions of three classic stage plays: Brannagh's HENRY V, Zeffirilli's
HAMLET, and Jean-Paul Rappeneau's CYRANO DE BERGERAC. For production
quality and for entertainment value I find it very easy to pick HAMLET for
third place. Choosing between first and second place is somewhat harder,
but for both production quality and pure entertainment value I give the edge
to CYRANO. This is likely to remain the best adaptation of the story to
film we will see in our lifetimes and very likely the most entertaining,
even if we include Steve Martin's popular modern reframing ROXANNE.
CYRANO DE BERGERAC is, of course, an adaptation of Edmond Rostand's
popular play, first presented in 1897. (Rostand took some poetic liberty,
incidentally, but Cyrano was a genuine historic figure who was soldier,
expert swordsman, poet, playwright, philosopher, and even a science fiction
writer. His best-known literary work today is A VOYAGE TO THE MOON, which
is why Rostand put so many references to moon travel in the play. Cyrano
suggested several means of extra-terrestrial propulsion, mostly absurd, but
on one he got lucky. Cyrano de Bergerac was the man who first suggested
that space travel might be possible using rocket propulsion.) The story is
of the noble swordsman who would like to woo his beautiful cousin but is
stigmatized by his own prodigious nose. When it turns out that an
inarticulate but handsome soldier under Cyrano's command also loves her,
Cyrano agrees to help the soldier. The soldier will provide the good looks
and Cyrano will provide the words. The story packs into a surprisingly
small space comedy, tragedy, drama, action, and adventure.
This production cost seventeen million dollars and, taking into account
modern production costs, that was something of a bargain, considering the
number of detailed sets, costumes, and even battle scenes. Presumably
shooting in Hungary kept prices down. Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau co-
authored the script with Jean-Claude Carriere, editing down the Rostand and
occasionally adding some of their own lines. The film is in French with
English subtitles by novelist Anthony Burgess, who had previously translated
the play. The producers decided that for each foreign language in which the
film would be subtitled, they would get where possible the best-known
translator of the play into that language to do the subtitles for the film.
Gerard Depardieu has a very natural style as Cyrano that Jose Ferrer lacked
in the previously best-known film version. His nose also looks surprisingly
real, thanks to the contributions of Michele Burke, who receives on-screen
credit for creating the nose. Special notice should be given to a fine
score by Jean-Claude Petit, who produced many very good themes. For action
scenes his score sounds not unlike Danny Elfman's score for BATMAN, but
Petit also has some very melodic themes for other emotions. CYRANO DE
BERGERAC is a top-flight production. I give it a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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leeper@mtgzy.att.com