Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Cyrano Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 22, 2022

There was a real life Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, though most people acquainted with his supposed biography are most likely relying on the highly fictionalized account given by Edmond Rostand in a play Rostand wrote in 1897, and which has subsequently become a staple of theatrical troupes globally. Numerous adaptations of Rostand's work have been offered through the years, including several film versions like the 1950 Cyrano de Bergerac, which won Jose Ferrer an Academy Award for Best Actor. Two things would seem to set this particular Cyrano apart from many other adaptations, the first and probably most noticeable being that this outing does not hinge on the conceit of the problematic "physical deformity" being Cyrano's outsized nose, but instead on the fact that the character, played here by Peter Dinklage, is a dwarf. The other supposed innovation, namely making this into a kinda sorta musical, is actually rather old hat, as I actually got into at least somewhat in my now long ago Blu-ray review of the 1950 film. And speaking of awards, none other than everyone's favorite (ex) nun marrying Baron, Christopher Plummer, took home the Tony Award for Best Actor for appearing as de Bergerac in another musical called Cyrano which had the literary imprimatur of none other than Anthony Burgess as its librettist and lyricist. That musical came and went rather quickly on the Great White Way, despite some general acclaim for both Plummer and the score (which I highly recommend those with an interest seek out and listen to), but other adapters have returned to the Rostand source material repeatedly to attempt to make it "sing and dance". Among the many other musical adaptations are ones by Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn (Bricusse and his long time writing partner Anthony Newley were actually announced as working on adaptation in the sixties which never came to fruition), and another by a Dutch writing team with the surname van Dijk (another flop on Broadway despite several Tony nominations). Unfortunately for this "singing and dancing" Cyrano, the songs may not overly excite those with an interest in musical theater, though my hunch is fans of the band The National (members of whom wrote the song score) might disagree. But there's a probably deliberate stylistic approach to the songs that some may feel works against its historical milieu and in fact may end up distracting (not in a good way) more than aiding the production.

Now in terms of musicals whose actual music and even lyrics may not "fit" their perceived time frame, I'll go on record as stating there are all sorts of musicals which indulge in what I'd call more contemporary sounding scores than their historical setting might suggest which I unabashedly love, with two notable but disparate examples being Jesus Christ Superstar and Duncan Sheik's amazing reinvention of Spring Awakening (note that the link points to a Greek film which kind of sounds like it may be at least tangentially sourced from the same Frank Wedekind play that the musical uses, though the IMDb doesn't list Wedekind). But in this particular case, while The National is often kind of just lumped into the "rock" genre, I found the almost folk like aspects of some of the score to not be especially organic to the rest of what is an absolutely sumptuous physical production with some rather fine performances (and that includes the singing, all of which was evidently done live to prerecorded playbacks).

Putting aside the music for a moment, there's one other "innovation" here which is kind of interesting in that it may not even raise an occasional eyebrow, which might be a good thing. In this version Christian de Neuvillette (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) is a black man, and that matters not one whit to the actual story. And despite the insertion of an arguably needless set of songs, the screenplay hews rather closely to the source material, with Roxanne (a winning Haley Bennett) attempting to stave off advances of the Count de Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn) while also falling for a ruse whereby Cyrano's eloquent writing becomes the tool with which Christian is able to woo her.

In terms of slightly off kilter sounds in the film aside and apart from the song score, it's kind of interesting to note that Dinklage doesn't try to mimic some of the more theatrical idiolects that several of the other actors do. The kind of flat Midwestern accent Dinklage adopts here is perhaps the dialogue equivalent of the music in a way, a seemingly deliberate stylistic choice that may chafe at some ears. From an actual performance standpoint, especially in terms of his absolutely mournful face, Dinklage couldn't be better, and he sings quite well, which may surprise some people.

Cyrano Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cyrano is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Universal Studios with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Captured with Arri Alexa LF cameras and finished at 4K (both data points courtesy of the IMDb), this is an often ravishing looking presentation. Just yesterday I was on record again in my The Humans Blu-ray review as stating I sometimes don't like the murky appearance of Alexa captures, but even though this film at least occasionally indulges in the same yellowish grading and/or lighting choices that you can also see in The Humans (though perhaps not to the same degree), there's a really remarkable and often beautiful clarity to the imagery here. Fine detail is exceptional in close-ups, where you can virtually count the pores on the actors' faces. The ludicrous makeup some of the men wear is also almost palpable looking, with little clumps of powder clearly visible. The film spends a lot of its first acts in warmly burnished tones that pop very well, only to suddenly change things up with some almost monochromatic looking footage that was shot on Mount Aetna.

Cyrano Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Cyrano features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track that takes full advantage of the continuous underscore to provide a bed of surround activity from which other effects like ambient sounds can emerge, often quite invitingly. Several big production numbers provide really good engagement of the side and rear channels, and some of Cyrano's legendary sword fights also feature good effects work. All of the instrumental and vocal forces sound flawless from a fidelity standpoint, and I'd argue the singing in this film is actually surprisingly well done, considering the fact that probably none of the leads is known as a singer. Some of the actual underscore is quite effective, and for a good example of some of the stylistic variances between the actual sung material and other cues, listen how the style clearly changes to more of a pastiche "historical" style during the first theatrical performance that Cyrano interrupts. Stylistic analyses aside, the track is full bodied with excellent fidelity and some appealing dynamic range. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Cyrano Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• An Epic Adventure: The Making of Cyrano (HD; 9:10) is a brief but well done featurette that gets into the theatrical genesis of the project, as well as commendably devoting a portion of its running time to the scoring and how that came to be.

Additionally, both DVD and digital copies are included, and packaging features a slipcover.

Cyrano Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're a fan of The National, you're probably going to unabashedly love this version of Cyrano. Others may feel, as I did, that the music never really melds consistently with the source material, though just about everything else in this adaptation is well wrought and emotionally satisfying. Technical merits are first rate, and with a potential caveat from your resident musical theater curmudgeon, Cyrano comes Recommended.