Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

By coincidence, I recently saw Jean Cocteau's 'Beauty and the Beast' and I immediately found deep connections between the Beast's torments and Cyrano de Bergerac. Listening to the interview of director Jean-Paul Rappeneau, I was glad he pointed out the same parallel. Both stories all about characters who believe something in their looks would make a difference in terms of love. And that's why the universal resonance of these stories never faded, don't we wish we had smaller noses, ears, more hair, to be taller or thinner. Cyrano is a strong and skilled man capable to defeat a whole army, except for one enemy: himself. His story is one of an impossible romance between a man convinced on his ugliness and a woman, Roxanne who's in love with a handsome man, Christian, but can only be aroused by the power of words. And Christian has inferiority complex as well: for all his good looks, he lacks inspiration with women and needs Cyrano's help to seduce Roxanne with words. This is not a love triangle, except if you consider the Count of Guiche (Jacques Weber) as the boorish rival. This is the story of two men forming a sort of ideal man, combining looks and wits, a double romance. And the romance is a double miracle: it established a trend that is still modern by our own standards: love in disguise, love with words, love in fact "virtual", it has the power, it exists, but only exists through twisted albeit sincere forms of idealization (and self- deprecation). The play was written by Edmond de Rostand but is still relevant in our technology-driven era. It is also a miracle because it stole the thunder of the ultimate romance "Romeo and Juliet" providing a new iconic balcony scene with an irresistible twist, inspiring the American remake with Steve Martin and Daryl HannahBut there's more in Rostand's play, there are fights against the Spanish army, there is male rivalry, there is people's need to exist and be listened for some self-perceived value, whether Christian who doesn't want to unveil his ignorance or a poor baker who leads his business to bankrupt because he's more preoccupied by his artistic talent than his pies. This is also a tale about people who lost every sense of reality because they have one little obsession of their own, and things escalate to the point that none of us knows a happy ending and yet the film isn't a tragedy nor a down. It is universal, sad, happy, thrilling, romantic and right again, modern.And the film is served by thrilling fights (not all of them actually involving swords), great costume designs and a sort of respectable credibility in every department of film-making that makes no doubt about the its classic status. It is the kind of swashbuckling experiences that makes you feel obliged to list the name of every participant, I'll stick with director Jean-Paul Rappeneau, who also adapted the story with Jean-Claude Carrère. Rappeneau confessed he couldn't say no to an adaptation as it was the first play he saw as a kid and it was a way to come full circle with him.It took, some actors including Depardieu had to train with the alexandrines the rehearsal dragged so long Rappeneau was convinced it was TV material in the best case, but a great editing and the first rushes prove that they were into something greater than their expectations. And ultimately, the film was a critical and commercial success, swapping every possible César (except for Vincent Perez and Anne Brochet) and ended up being an instant classic. While every element is worth the cheers, the reason why "Cyrano de Bergerac" is such a masterpiece, stands in two words: Gérard Depardieu, the greatest French actor of his generation.As soon as he enters the show, he steals it, you only hear his voice, and it so flamboyant, so resonant that you don't even see his nose, and it is a big nose. This is man who's not just larger than life, he's proud, malicious and uses his nose as the prop of his aura, or as he calls his panache, a white plume, a nose and a sword and you have your Cyrano. Only Depardieu could have played such a man, the actor with such a bulbous nose he almost didn't need a prosthesis, and with a panache like no actor ever had. Watch any interview of him on Youtube and prove me wrong.Cyrano was a Depardieu of his time, with one nose being becomes the vehicle of his own insecurities, of his fragility, one whole tirade about the nose speak less words than the moment he throws the mirror after seeing his face in. The nose tirade in fact, one of the most memorable parts of the film, shows that he would actually tolerate an insult about his nose, but one that would do justice to it, not something bland. If a nose could cause so much pain, at least it must inspire wit.This is Depardieu's movie and whenever he's not there, something is missing. But we feel his presence even when he's not on screen, like during the balcony kiss between Christian and Roxanne, you can feel his presence. Like a nose, we don't feel it, we use it less than the other organs of the face, but it's the most prominent part of it.

Embarrassed by his large nose, a romantic poet/soldier (Gerard Depardieu) romances his cousin (Anne Brochet) by proxy.The story of Cyrano has been told many times, and there are a number of film adaptations. Perhaps best known is Steve Martin in "Roxanne", which is a little heavier on the comedy and much lighter on the sword fighting. Well, you know, you will have that.This version has an advantage that few have: it is French. That gives it a bit of weight. And it does not shy away from the fact Cyrano is attracted to his cousin, something that would be removed from any mainstream film (unless used for comedy, as with George Michael Bluth).

Have you experienced watching a movie in your childhood you did not know the title of and merely remembered the actors , but was obsessed with the idea of it? Well, this movie was one of these.Until a few days ago I decided to look for it using my memories for the plot. And I found it, cannot tell you how happy I was! The idea behind this movie is outstanding! I can only quote the Little Prince: "L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."The world presented in this movie is different than ours. Starring actor is moved by feelings unknown in the material space we live in. His actions look like the actions of the fighter for overall justice and happiness without having the privilege to ever be awarded for that. The only award known to him is freedom and self-satisfaction.

Now this is interesting because I have a feeling that Roxanne, the American version of this film, was released first. I am not sure as to the release date of the first film for I believe it to be a 80's movie as opposed to a 90's movie. It was on recently but I think, no, I know that I threw out the television paper so I do not know. Anyway, Cyrano de Bergerac seriously romps all over Roxanne, as most French movies tend to do to their American counterparts.Cyrano de Bergerac is about the captain of the Gascony guard who has a big, no a whopping great nose, and he is very sensitive about its size. He considers himself a freak and that nobody will see past the nose to his soul. Cyrano is a poet and a great lover but he feels he can never be loved because of his physical appearance. The woman that he loves, Roxanne, is in love with another man, Christian, who is in Cyrano's battalion but Christian does not know how to be romantic so Cyrano becomes Christian's romantic side and uses his romantic words to create an intellectual depth to Christian that does not exist.Cyrano de Bergerac is a tragedy in a number of ways. There is no fulfillment in the romantic sequences. Christian is not what Roxanne wants and they can never really be together because Roxanne loves Christian's words and his looks and nothing else. She claims to love his soul, but it is a soul that says the words that she wants to hear. When Christian tries to confront her without Cyrano's help, she sees a brute that she wants nothing to do with. She does not love his soul but rather his words, the words that Cyrano speaks. The further tragic part deals with the Duke who also loves Roxanne, and wants to marry her. Instead, Roxanne marries Christian, with Cyrano's help and upon discovery, the duke sends them off to the Spanish Front where there is little hope of survival. They are married in word but it is not consummated and the duke makes sure that it is not, and never will be consummated.The greater tragedy is that of Cyrano. He holds a love for Roxanne, though it is really only attraction to her physical appearance, yet he does not speak of it to anyone. Christian learns before his death, and he is the only one that knows that Cyrano loves Roxanne. This he learns from the letters that are sent in his name. He has read the letters and soon realises that Cyrano gives Roxanne a love that he never could, but Cyrano is constantly held back by his deformity. There is constantly reference to love in spite of a deformity, but Cyrano feels that he is not for Roxanne and remains silent. He spends time with her, every Saturday, and even manages to crawl to visit her on his death bed, but it is a love that remains silent, and the only person that knows and can reveal it is dead.Roxanne was a comedy, Cyrano de Bergerac is a tragedy. There is no hope in the film and everything is spiraling down to a very bloody conclusion. Cyrano is a master swordsman, who defeats a hundred men by himself, but he cannot stave off the anger of a duke. He is able to fight the Spanish hordes, but he is taunted by a love that he feels that can never be fulfilled. He speaks only of it on his death bed, and even though is very reluctant. This is a very sad movie, nothing like the Hollywood rubbish that is splattered over all of the screens. This is a movie with depth that deals with the real emotions of people. It is not one where the couple get together and live happily in the end, but one in which pain strikes through it right until the end. It is a poetic movie, though much of it will be lost in the translation. In essence, I see Cyrano de Bergerac on the level of a modern Shakespeare for it seems to have lots of Shakespearian elements, including a very deep, poetical language -- even though it is in French.Cyrano de Bergerac is a film that has one overriding theme and that is Carpe Diem - seize the day. Though such a thing does not happen in this movie, it shows us that it is something that we should do. We cannot let our love kindle unspoken, especially when the woman that our love is focused on so dearly wants to hear. In my opinion, it is not something that should be done for I feel that we need to be tactful in regards to the woman that we speak with and shouldn't overwhelm them, but in Cyrano's case he feels that his nose makes him hideous and that Roxanne won't want anything to do with him, which is not true as you learn at the end. When it comes down to self-doubt then it should be cast away. One should be tactful, but one should not attack oneself in belief that no woman would even want him.