Cyrano

 

British director Joe Wright might well be the last Hollywood romantic in both his selection of stories and how he chooses to tell them. Atonement (2007) and Anna Karenina (2012) were sweeping, dramatic renderings of a contemporary and classic tale, respectively, that shimmered with their characters' longings and desires, intemperance and regret.

Wright gives similar treatment to the story of the lovelorn Cyrano de Bergerac, the 17th century French poet and swordsman who pines for the beautiful and, presumably, unattainable Roxanne and channels his ardor through one of her handsome suitors. It is easy to see why this tragic story has so often been adapted for the screen -- Cyrano is every person who was more in love with pride than with truth and paid the price for it.

Wright's rendering -- while a bit uneven in the casting -- is lush with lyrical beauty, both narratively and musically. For once, a trailer did not include the film's richest moments. The movie's dozen songs were composed by Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner with lyricists Matt Berninger and Carin Besser. "Someone to Say" is the film's main romantic theme featured in trailers but three other numbers struck me as wonderfully evocative -- Cyrano's solo "Madly," the trio "Every Letter" and the soldiers' requiem "Where I Fall."

I loved that the picture feels both Baroque and modern, in design and in movement. Some may fault it for merging these tones but I did not mind it as much. Cyrano's opening lines delivered to a crowd of powdered wigs and décolletages have the swagger of a rap battle. I thought it was a wonderful sequence.

Others have noted that Peter Dinklage carries this film on his back as Cyrano, his "ugliness" in this version being his stature. Dinklage, who is also a fine baritone crooner, is without question the reason this film has emotional resonance, even though Haley Bennett as Roxanne, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as her tongue-tied inamorato Christian and Ben Mendelsohn as the lecherous Duke De Guiche all give quality performances.

Dinklage's portrayal -- most of which is conveyed in his eyes -- feels more full-bodied and, somehow, more invested, and one doesn't have to guess where the connection comes from.