The two movies and filmed play are in The Swashbuckler genre of movie. He is loved and greatly admired by others but nevertheless remains secretly fearful, ready to take offense and defend his honor. He is all of this with one tragic flaw: his outsized nose. He is a nobleman skilled with the sword and in fencing equally skilled with language and in learning bold and adventuresome yet refined in manner generous loyal honorable modest in dress and spurning, except for the broad-rimmed hat with its splendid white feather, the finery, the ribbons and lace worn by other men of the royal court. With my inadequate French, watching took over from listening for the poetry of the language.Ĭyrano has all the qualities of a romantic hero. For Depardieu’s Cyrano, Jean Paul Rappeneau wrote the screenplay and directed a lavish Technicolor production. I rented the DVD (although it is on-line), watched the stage version, enjoyed that interpretation also, then turned to a fellow cinephile who owns DVDs of many of Gérard Depardieu’s movies and borrowed from him the Depardieu “Cyrano de Bergerac”, in French with subtitles.
#Cyrano de bergerac film 1950 movie
I had seen the 1950 movie with José Ferrer as Cyrano, had been captivated by the language and was curious to see how Kevin Kline would interpret Edmond Rostand’s 1897 classic romantic hero. I discovered recently that in 2007 “Cyrano de Bergerac” had been presented on Broadway and the stage production had been recorded on film, available on DVD.