Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac is one of the most representative characters of French theater and he has been the subject of many screen adaptations. Here, this is Jean-Paul Rappeneau's turn to transpose in pictures Edmond Rostand's famous play. With the help of his scriptwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, this is a faithful and especially modernized version that he offers us. Rappeneau and Carrière have deleted difficult or old-fashioned verses and they have even written necessary verses for understanding. In short, a substantial work has been made and it is better this way because the result is very convincing. It enables to make the movie easier to follow and dialogs, partly constitute the success of the movie.

As for the directing, it's very tempting to make a comparison with another movie: "Molière" (1978). Both stand out by a witty, vivid and sometimes poetic directing full of liberty and movements that does everything to avoid filmed stage production and succeeds in it. And of course, the movie enjoys a performance of a high quality. Beginning with Gérard Depardieu whose performance is absolutely convincing and he will remain an unforgettable Cyrano de Bergerac. He is very well followed by the whole of the distribution.

At last, it was a surprise to see this movie gain a triumph (11 French cinema awards in 1991 and a huge commercial success). Ultimately, a smart and subtle movie... but not Rappeneau's best movie. His finest achievement was to come five years later with "le hussard sur le toit" (1995).