Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards:

Best Actor: Gérard Depardieu
Best Foreign Language Film - France
Best Art Direction
Best Costume Design (WON)
Best Makeup

Cyrano de Bergerac is a very French film, with plenty of French sensibilities. It's longer than it maybe should be, overacting is to be found, the jokes don't always land, there's an abundance of character actors and the production values are quite great. While it's not a comedy, I did laugh a couple of times, and while I didn't pay too much attention to the romance, it's made convincing by some fine acting.

The film, which is very well put together (that cinematography! the makeup!) does in fact rely enormously of Depardieu. Without him, there is no movie. I was incredibly impressed by his performance, on one hand the way he delivers the very VERY difficult dialogue, specific to the original material. On the other hand, the way he holds back in key moments, by delivering the pain of the character through looks filled with love and emotion.

While the film does lose some of its intensity in the second half, it makes up with a memorable and dramatic ending.


I give it: 8.5 - 9/10

IMDB LINK