Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau
May 12th, 2009 by John Murphy
The last word spoken in Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is “panache.” It’s a single-word summation of all that came before. Cyrano — like Falstaff, Captain Ahab or Robin Hood — is a literary character turned worldwide phenomenon. He is the big-nosed, swashbuckling poet who embodies “panache,” and has captured the hearts and imaginations of audiences everywhere. The name “Cyrano” conjures more than a Pinnochio nose and a floppy, feathery hat. Cyrano is synonymous with valor and bold romanticism: a brilliant, outsized soul, and selfless in his unrequited love for the beautiful but unapproachable Roxane.
He is, in short, the great Romantic hero: individualistic, poetical, brave — but also tragic, lonely, misunderstood. His “deformity” has made him bitterly self-conscious, sensitive to insult, but also a man set-apart, the envy and enemy of many. He battles a hundred men, throws away a year’s pay in one grand gesture, and composes sonnets while matching swords with dim-witted aristocrats. Talk about panache.
Who else could play this character but Gerard Depardieu? With his hulking frame and pudgy potato face, Depardieu’s looks are hardly of the marquee-idol variety. But what charisma! Whether playing Danton or Rodin or Cyrano or the Count of Monte Cristo, Depardieu invests his roles with passion, personality, and, yes, panache. He was made to order for the part of Cyrano. I defy any woman with a hint of Romance in her to resist Cyrano’s immense vitality, largeness of spirit, and a warrior-poet’s way with words. Listening to Depardieu speak Rostand’s lines is like hearing Gielgud intone Shakespeare: an aesthetic experience unto itself.
The movie itself is a handsome period piece with an appropriately lyrical and martial soundtrack. The other actors offer Depardieu excellent support. Rostand, who clearly loved Shakespeare, did not possess Shakespeare’s poetic or dramatic gifts (that said: who does or did?), but he had enough talent to transform the legendary Hercule-Savinien De Cyrano de Bergerac into an indelible icon of the stage and screen. For such a famous part, Depardieu comes as close to giving a definitive performance as possible, and we are the beneficiaries of his, Rostand’s, and Cyrano’s irrepressible panache.
