When we first meet Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage) in Joe Wright’s adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s classic play, Cyrano is an extroverted lover of theatre, the type of man who would rather refund the audience than have them watch a sub-par performance. Cyrano is introduced by a booming voice before we ever see him, and despite his stature, Cyrano is still a commanding figure. However, it doesn’t take long before an audience member calls Cyrano a freak, and challenges him to a duel. Cyrano knows that to turn away from such a fight would only cause the laughs to continue, and as the pair fight, Cyrano is self-deprecating, even stating that he’s “living proof God has a sense of humor.” When he lands the fatal blow, he speaks of the insults that are constantly thrown his way, whispering to his opponent: “It all goes in. My God, how it hurts.”
In Cyrano, it’s that deep pain, and that fear of even bothering to hope that makes Wright’s take on this tale and, in particular, Dinklage’s performance, so powerful. This take on Cyrano is so deeply tied into disappointment, but through Dinklage we see a very real hurt from a character who has been told by the world that he doesn’t deserve what he wants, simply because of how he was born. Through Dinklage’s pitch-perfect and affecting performance, an irresistible score and Wright’s exemplary direction, Cyrano is one of the best musicals in recent years—and in a year that gave us West Side Story, In the Heights, and tick, tick...BOOM!, that’s saying something.
While Cyrano is having the aforementioned duel at the theatre, the unrequited love of Cyrano’s heart, Roxanne (Haley Bennett) has fallen in love at first sight with Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Once Roxanne admits to Cyrano her love for Christian, Cyrano knows that he will never be loved by Roxanne. Instead, Cyrano offers his gift of poetry to Christian, as Cyrano states “I will make you eloquent, while you make me handsome.” Through this arrangement, Cyrano can admit his love to Roxanne indirectly, while helping Christian express his feelings for Roxanne.
Dinklage is giving his best performance yet as Cyrano de Bergerac, a role that is pure love and longing, not only for the characters of Roxanne, but for Christian, who gets to be closer to his love than Cyrano could ever dream to be. In Cyrano’s scenes with Roxanne, we can see that desire to come clean about his feelings seep through, as he’s internally wrestling to tell her the truth, risking having his heart broken just to be with the one he loves. It’s a staggering and heartbreaking performance from Dinklage, and one of the finest performances in recent years.
Alongside Dinklage, Kevin Harrison Jr. is also quite good as the wide-eyed, naive Christian, who is so overtaken with love that his heart often overtakes his head. Despite the story wanting us to root for Cyrano, Harrison Jr.’s performance also makes us want the best for this character, even though his love isn’t as deep as the one Cyrano feels for Roxanne. Also deliciously sinister is Ben Mendelsohn as De Guiche, who also desires Roxanne’s hand, even though she has no interest. While Mendelsohn is the closest thing Cyrano has to a villain, there’s also the slightest amount of compassion for the character, especially when he realizes that he will never have the love he wants.
Yet despite being the object of so many of these characters’ affections, it’s when Cyrano focuses on Haley Bennett’s Roxanne alone that the film starts to dip. Bennett is also doing a solid job in this role, and she’s always excellent when put alongside one of the men vying for her heart, but the film doesn’t quite know what to do with her on her own. Cyrano sets up Roxanne’s background, as a woman who needs to marry for money but wants to marry for love, but beyond a few small references to her money problems, Roxanne often ends up as little more than a woman for these men to fight over.
But Cyrano also feels like a culmination of all of Wright’s talents over the years, an amalgamation of his previous works coming together to do this story—written by Erica Schmidt— justice. Cyrano combines Wright’s excellence in romantic stories (2005’s Pride & Prejudice) with the staginess that he can still make feel expansive (Anna Karenina), and the combination of grandiose love stories with epic war stories (Atonement). Through Wright’s direction, Cyrano has a much larger sweeping scale than one would expect.
Yet it’s the music of Cyrano that really helps bring this story to life. With a score by The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Cyrano’s music has all the depth and power one would expect from these two. Dinklage’s voice almost sounds similar to The National lead singer Matt Berninger, to the point that this can almost feel like a classic play scored by The National. Yet similar to Aaron Dessner’s work on Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” album, Cyrano has the tone, style, and ambiance of music from The National, but is still able to create its own specific, new sound.
Wright’s utilization of Cyrano’s music provides some of the film’s best moments. While Dinklage’s Cyrano will often bottle up his feelings, the song “Madly” allows him to go completely in on his love for Roxanne, a leitmotif that returns throughout the film in exquisite fashion. But arguably the film’s most moving sequence is centered on the extremely tragic song “Wherever I Fall,” sung by three guards (played by Glen Hansard, Sam Amidon, Scott Folan) heading out to certain death. It’s this brilliant scene that shows just how powerful this combination of Wright’s steady direction, incredible performance, and gorgeous songs can be.
Cyrano breathes new life into this classic play, crafting a tremendous musical about the dangers of pride, love, and the terror of daring to hope. Dinklage gives one of the best performances of 2021, a role that shows his incredible range as an actor, and shows he deserves more lead roles. Released in a year that was packed with a ridiculous amount of great musicals, Cyrano deserves to be called one of the best of 2021.
Rating: A-
Cyrano is currently in theaters.