The French story “Cyrano de Bergerac” has been told a number of times in the movies from the silent days to the COVID era.  José Ferrer won an Oscar for his 1950 portrayal of the character.  But I believe that this 2021 version is the first time it has been told in musical form onscreen.  And that is both a strength and a liability.

Joe Wright’s film is set at an indeterminate time when Europe is at war.  Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage) is a Guardsman who is hopelessly in love with Roxanne (Haley Bennett), a beautiful, fiercely independent woman.  Roxanne is oblivious to this; she takes one look at Guardsman recruit Christian de Neuvillette (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) and falls instantly for him.  She implores her friend Cyrano to protect him; Cyrano then helps Christian woo Roxanne by writing letters that express his own feelings for her, but are delivered in Christian’s name.  Their complicated romance leads to tragedy and misunderstanding, this time accompanied by song.

This is a very powerful story, even when played for laughs by Steve Martin in his excellent modern romantic comedy Roxanne.  In Joe Wright’s hands its vivid period locations, sumptuous costumes and sparkling, evocative language is sometimes mesmerizing.  Yet it is also a bit sloppy with anachronisms like an electric spotlight in the opening theater scene and the tough-to-swallow inability of Roxanne to be able to tell who is talking to her.  The biggest difference for this production is the inclusion of songs, a few of which are quite effective in conveying character emotion.  But these songs are delivered with an absolute minimum of musical accompaniment, which I found very distracting, and a couple of them are almost tuneless.  I think Wright should have embraced the musical approach fully and worked some actual orchestral music into the mix instead of taking his minimalist approach.

The biggest strength of this film are the performances.  Peter Dinklage is nothing short of magnificent as the tragically loveless swordsman.  His singing is outstanding as well and I don’t understand how he missed an Oscar nomination for this performance.  Haley Bennett is luminous and sings even better here than she did as the rock star in her first film, Music and Lyrics, seventeen years ago.  Kelvin Harrison, Jr. is also good but has much less to do than his costars.  The film’s conclusion is appropriate yet underwhelming; there is not enough dramatic payoff for the struggles of the past two hours.  Still, this is good cinema.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  27 December 2024.