Cyrano

“*Have you ever loved someone?*”
―Tagline

***Cyrano*** is a 2021 musical romantic drama film directed by Joe Wright with a screenplay by Erica Schmidt, based on Schmidt's 2018 stage musical of the same name, itself based on the 1897 Edmond Rostand play *Cyrano de Bergerac*. The film stars Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Ben Mendelsohn.

## Plot

Beautiful but penniless orphan Roxanne goes to the theater with the foppish Duke De Guiche, who is in love with her and determined to marry her. Roxanne states her desire to marry for love and while taking her seat, she and newly recruited soldier Christian de Neuvillette see each other and are instantly infatuated with one another. As the play begins, Roxanne's childhood friend, the dwarven Cyrano de Bergerac, objects to the lead actor and chases him off the stage with rhyming insults, then duels a man who calls him a freak for his condition.

Roxanne meets privately with Cyrano, who she fails to realize is desperately in love with her. She tells him she has fallen in love with Christian at first sight and asks him to arrange a meeting. Though heartbroken, Cyrano meets Christian and discovers he is inarticulate and incapable of expressing his feelings. Not wanting to disappoint Roxanne, he writes countless letters expressing his own deep feelings of love for her, which Christian delivers as his own writing.

When Christian and Roxanne finally meet in person, he is unable to match the power of Cyrano's words, which caused her to fall in love with Christian, and he inadvertently insults her. Roxanne declares she needs more than simple platitudes and storms off. Later, Cyrano helps Christian make amends by hiding in the shadows and whispering what to say to Roxanne. She forgives him as a letter from De Guiche arrives with a priest, declaring that he is coming to either marry her or have his way with her. Roxanne and Christian hastily marry and De Guiche, infuriated, arranges for Christian and Cyrano's unit to be sent to the front.

While at war, Cyrano sends Roxanne a letter from Christian every day and risks his own life to keep Christian alive for Roxanne. De Guiche eventually sends their unit on a suicide mission, and Cyrano reveals he has already written a final letter to Roxanne. Christian sees the letter is stained with tears and realizes Cyrano loves Roxanne, and that the man Roxanne really loves is Cyrano. He asks Cyrano to tell Roxanne everything. He then runs out to meet the enemy's guns and is killed.

Three years later, Cyrano is impoverished and in ill health from war wounds that never fully healed. Roxanne remains his close friend. Sensing he is about to die, Cyrano meets with Roxanne and asks for Christian's final letter. He recites it from memory, revealing that all of Christian's letters were from him, and Roxanne declares her love for Cyrano before he dies peacefully.

## Cast

* Peter Dinklage as Cyrano de Bergerac
* Haley Bennett as Roxanne
* Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian de Neuvillette
* Ben Mendelsohn as De Guiche
* Bashir Salahuddin as Le Bret
* Monica Dolan as Marie, Roxanne's attendant
* Joshua James as Valvert
* Anjana Vasan as Sister Claire
* Ruth Sheen as Mother Marthe
* Glen Hansard, Sam Amidon, and Scott Folan appear as a singing trio of Guards, credited respectively as Guard #1, Guard #2, and Guard #3.
* Mark Benton as Montfleury
* Richard McCabe as Priest
* Peter Wight as Ragueneau
* Tim McMullan as Jodelet
* Mark Bagnall as Stranger
* Mike Shepherd as Marquis
* Paul Biddiss as The Gate Keeper
* Katy Owen as The Thief

## Music

*Main article: Cyrano (soundtrack)*
The film's opening number, "Someone to Say," was released as a single on October 8, 2021, followed by "Somebody Desperate" on December 3, 2021. The latter song was written exclusively for the film and plays during the end credits. The soundtrack was released on Decca Records on December 10, 2021.

## Release

The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2021. By the end of its festival run, it screened at the Hamptons, Mill Valley, Rome, and Savannah.

The film was widely theatrically released in the United States and the United Kingdom on February 25, 2022. The film was originally scheduled for a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25, 2021, but the release date was then moved to December 31. In November 2021, the film's release plans were changed by United Artists Releasing in an effort to better position itself for Academy Awards qualification and contention: it had an exclusive one-week theatrical run in Los Angeles on December 17, prior to a planned limited theatrical release on January 21, 2022, before expanding in subsequent weeks. The release date in the US was shifted to a limited release on January 28, before opening wide on February 11. It was shifted again to a solely wide release on February 25, without a limited release, on the same date as its release in the UK. The UK release was originally scheduled for release on January 14 but was postponed by Universal Pictures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

The film was released on streaming on March 9, 2022, and on Blu-ray and DVD on April 19, 2022, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

It is also the last MGM title to be released before the studio was acquired by Amazon on March 17, 2022.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of 241 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads, "Uneven yet ultimately hard to resist, Joe Wright's *Cyrano* puts a well-acted musical spin on the oft-adapted classic tale." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

## References

1. ↑ Thompson, Anne (January 4, 2022). Why Joe Wright Threw Caution to the Winds on *Cyrano* After *Woman in the Window* Left Him Reeling.
2. ↑ "Joe Wright's Period Romance Musical 'Cyrano' With Peter Dinklage & Haley Bennett Arriving December 31", The Playlist, 27 August 2021.
3. ↑ The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner announce 'Cyrano' soundtrack (October 6, 2021).
4. ↑ 'Cyrano' Soundtrack Album Released | Film Music Reporter.