Cyrano de Bergerac

An epic film brimming over with life, romance, humour, comedy and the sheer panache of Depardieu's Cyrano. Read full review

In Rappeneau's hands -- and in his choice of the face of Gerard Depardieu as Cyrano -- self-hatred, not a nose, ultimately becomes Cyrano's nemesis. Nothing in the middle of Depardieu's beautiful face -- no protuberance, no scar, no blemish -- could destroy the nobility and honesty of his eyes. [21 Dec 1990, p.G11]

It is ensemble work of the highest quality, but it is Depardieu's graceful and illuminating performance that is unforgettable. [19 Dec 1990, p.E1]

Well-nigh flawless, with scarcely a moment's lull. [18 Dec 1990, p.F1]

A winner by more than a nose, Cyrano de Bergerac attains a near-perfect balance of verbal and visual flamboyance. Gerard Depardieu's grand performance as the facially disgraced swordsman-poet sets a new standard with which all future Cyranos will have to reckon. Read full review

A splendid movie not just because it tells its romantic story, and makes it visually delightful, and centers it on Depardieu, but for a better reason: The movie acts as if it believes this story. Depardieu is not a satirist - not here, anyway. He plays Cyrano on the level, for keeps. Read full review

This is the definitive cinematic Cyrano; only the pickiest critics or peasants will dare or care to thumb their noses at it. [16 Nov 1990, p.4D]

Depardieu and Rappeneau have not so much revived Cyrano as restored it. [25 Dec 1990, p.87p]

With resources that took five years to assemble, [Rappeneau] has turned out a Cyrano that should prove definitive for many years to come. [25 Dec 1990, p.11C]

Rappeneau has his weaknesses - the battle sequences lack imagination, and the finale is unnecessarily protracted - but his romantic flourishes keep most of the movie humming. [25 Dec 1990, p.F1]

Rappeneau and Jean-Claude Carriere, who combined on the most recent adaptation and screenplay, have opened up Rostand's work far more than could be done on a stage - and it works brilliantly. [26 Dec 1990, p.3F]

The antique charms of the story can still seduce us when done well, and director Jean-Paul Rappeneau, who freely adapted the play with Jean-Claude Carrière, knows how to fashion a sumptuously beautiful, hugely entertaining spectacle that also stays alert to the cadences of the heart. Read full review

A virtuoso update. Gerard Depardieu's Cyrano is nothing short of magnificent. Read full review

Cyrano de Bergerac is played full tilt, like Don Quixote against the windmills. An enthusiastic melodrama, it spills emotions like stars across the noble screen. Read full review

With its screenplay adapted from Rostand by Mr. Rappeneau and Jean-Claude Carriere, the movie is really memorable, though, only for the Depardieu performance, and for the chance it gives us to hear the original French verse. Read full review

Rappeneau's movie-making demonstrates an unshowy confidence in itself and its subject that is wholly justifiable. Read full review

Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau makes the mistake of treating Cyrano de Bergerac as though it were some lost Shakespearean tragedy instead of the wonderfully gimmicky (and familiar) tearjerker it is. Read full review

This 138-minute film, comprising two thousand performers and a helluva lot of musketry, has several good scenes, including the well-known one in which Christian utters romantic praise to Roxanne from below her balcony, while de Bergerac feeds him lines. But it can't escape Rostand's structural shortcomings. Read full review

Cyrano De Bergerac, the latest cinematic adaptation of the Edmond Rostand classic, is a lavishly appointed film, a decidedly handsome film, a film that wears its money on its sleeve, a film whose beauty is skin deep. The movie always moves, but it's never moving. [30 Nov 1990]