143 - Cyrano De Bergerac - 3 stars
One of the great stories about unrequited love.
Depardieu plays Cyrano who is 'a fighter not a lover' due to his hang-up about his nose, which you could use to hang up your coat (boom boom).
Although as this film proves, it is not wise to insult a man who is so eloquent with words as he will use them to cut you down to size as this clip proves. Also see how Steve Martin does it in Roxanne's comedy duel.
Cyrano's issues over his appearance mean that he is unable to declare his love for his cousin. I could make a lot over this issue but it seems that this was quite normal at that time for people to marry their distant relatives, so it is best to accept this and move on rather than dwell on the fact that it is a bit creepy and incestuous. Surely there must have been someone pretty out there that he wasn't partially related to.
Unable to romance her himself, he helps a young suitor by providing his words by writing letters to her. Will she ever learn the truth behind the author?
The most wonderful thing about the film is the use of language. It just rolls of the tongue of Depardieu and the use of rhyme gives it a wondeful poetic quality.
It also has some of the best subtitling I've seen on a foreign language film as it manages to keep the rhyming and rhythm of his speech without losing too much in the translation.
Days remaining - 77 Films remaining - 77
No comments:
Post a Comment