“Cyrano de Berzerk” is the kind of story that has won eternal life, and one can understand why: it’s a story about disappointed love, the difference between spiritual connection and physical attraction, the power of words and a character who finds herself out of the game just because of her appearance. All of these have been and remain relevant issues, and will probably always remain so.
Redman Rustan wrote this story as a play in 1897. For him, Cyrano was a soldier and poet who was in love with his cousin Roxanne, but his unusually long nose stopped him from courting her. Instead, he serves as a shadow writer for Christian, the good-looking but sleazy soldier Roxanne longs for, and writes words of love for her on his behalf.
The story originally took place in 17th-century France, in the days of King Louis XIII. Since then he has received a variety of theatrical and cinematic adaptations. Some kept the original context and some moved it to another arena. “Roxanne” starring Steve Martin, for example, copied the plot of the play to a small town in modern America.
We also recently watched “Edmund,” a behind-the-scenes film of the original play, and now comes “Sirano,” a cinematic adaptation of a stage musical of that name, which offers some changes of its own. The story takes place again hundreds of years ago, but this time was filmed in Sicily, for its beautiful landscapes. In addition, the good-looking soldier is black-skinned, and most importantly – the shy hero boasts an average-length nose. In this case, the reason for his shyness is not his nose, but his short stature.
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Sirano is played by Peter Dinklage, probably the most famous of the shortest actors of our generation. The actor was of course famous in “Game of Thrones”, won four Emmy Awards for it and was always marked as the one who will one day also win an Oscar.
Dinklage certainly deserved to pick the figurine for his work here. Although the film tends to be bombastic, its display is subdued. She does not slip into kitsch or pathos nor does she flirt, but still manages to evoke empathy and touch the veins of emotion. When Cyrano’s heart explodes with love for Roxanne, our heart goes out to him.
The film is based on a stage musical by Erika Schmidt, Dinklage’s reality partner, who also starred in the theatrical version at the time. They were not the only couple in the filming: the film adaptation was directed by Joe Wright, and Roxanne is played by his partner Hailey Bennett, an underappreciated actress. Maybe she suffers from the fact that her resemblance to Jennifer Lawrence makes her look generic. In fact, her performances always have depth and complexity. We saw it for example in “Swallow” and we see it here too.
If these family ties are not enough for you, then here’s the most twisted trivia details of them all: the lyrics to the songs of “Sirano” were written by National Singer Matt Berninger with his partner Karin Besser, and the melodies were written by two of the other members of the band – twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Desner.
The band usually specializes in melancholy indie rock music. Here he tried his hand at something else, and it worked: the songs are beautiful. One of them is so beautiful and catchy that it’s hard to stop humming it even long after watching it.
If so, “Sirano” boasts a strong and timeless story, captivating acting performances, music at the highest level, impressive production values and charming landscapes. So what keeps him from becoming one of the great films of the year? And how is it that he was nominated for only one Oscar this week, and that too in the costume category?
Well, “Sirano” suffers from two problems. One is his fault, and one is not. Let’s start with the external reason: when the musical on which it is based went on stage in 2018, it was exactly after the box office success of “La La Land”, and it seemed that this genre had a revival in cinema as well. But things are changing fast in Hollywood, and as “Neighborhood on the Heights” and “The Story of the Suburbs” have proven this year, this genre seems to have fewer audiences than ever.
At least for now, musicals are an irrelevant cinematic genre. “Cyrano” adds guilt to crime and combines the musical with another fading cinematic genre – the period drama, making it even less relevant. The result looks like a musical version of “Shakespeare in Love,” and is therefore completely detached from contemporary reality and cultural climate. The feeling is that they produced the film to win the 1999 Oscar. But this year, as is well known, is 2022.
Beyond questions of market conditions, the film also has objective issues. Wright, as for example in his adaptation of “Anna Karenina,” has a tendency to inflate his works, as were the yeast cakes he forgot in the oven. They swell and swell as if no one was watching. It also happens in “Sirano,” which reaches its peak half an hour before the end, and then is smeared with a tedious and impenetrable finish.
These are also the most theatrical moments in the film, and they leave us with the feeling that even if “Sirano” does indeed gain eternal life, perhaps the rest of them will already be in the theater and not in the cinema.