Director
Joe Wright
(PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, ATONEMENT)
Starring
Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett and Kelvin Harrison Jr.
The latest adaptation of Edmond Rodtand’s famous play ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ brings new life to the oft replicated story. This time, rather than a big nose preventing Cyrano from landing his lady love Roxanne, it’s his dwarfism that is impeding his social standing. Peter Dinklage (from TV’s Game of Thrones) reprises his off-Broadway role in this musical version of Cyrano, bringing tenderness, machismo and a certain level of sex appeal to the character.
There have been so many incarnations of the Cyrano story over the years, from direct adaptations to more contemporary reimagining’s such as Sierra Burgess is a Loser or Electric Dreams. The premise is always the same; a socially or physically maligned protagonist pines for someone deemed out of their league, leading them to team up with someone far more physically ‘suitable’ to act as a mouthpiece to their poetic and seductive words. But this Cyrano, taken from the stage musical of the same name feels like a perfect amalgamation of a traditional homage mixed with a modern musical flair. Set in the mid-1600’s France (and filmed in picturesque Sicily), the costuming and scenery are breathtaking, bringing an old world flair that director Joe Wright is famous for. The songs are brilliant and catchy, from the beautiful song of longing in ‘Madly’ to even the raw new anthem for incels everywhere ‘What I Deserve’ performed to unnerving perfection by Ben Mendelsohn in his role as the lecherous De Guiche.
The casting of the lesser known talents, Haley Bennett as the famed Roxanne and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as her handsome suitor Christian, are brilliant choices. They both bring a vocal legitimacy to the piece and elevate the film to an elegantly higher realm. The only thing that lets down the film as a whole is its urgency to end its tale. The pacing and depth of story travel well until the last 20 minutes of the film, where the director seems to have had enough and thought ‘eh, good enough’, culminating in a rather unceremonious final act. As the audience are left with more questions than answers, one can’t help but wonder if this could have been the next great musical masterpiece if given just a little more patience?
Overall though this was a uniquely vibrant and memorizing experience and one that should be given your full attention for its near 2 hour running time. Peter Dinklage has certainly announced himself as a truly charismatic leading man/action hero/musical star…not a bad trifecta.
Cyrano is in cinemas now.
Trailer
Moviedoc 
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