Cyrano Sings

**********************There be spoilers here*********************************** 

The play, Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand was written in 1897. I've seen a number of versions of the play with different actors playing the role. José Ferre, Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, and probably the best of them Gérard Depardieu have all tackled versions of the great wit Cyrano. I even took my own stab at the Cyrano makeup when I was studying makeup in college.

If you don't know the play, what follows here is a fairly simplified version of the play. So, if you already know the play, skip to the review. 

Cyrano who is usually portrayed with an incredibly large nose is one of the greatest wits, poets, musicians, and swordsmen in all of Seventeenth-Century France. It is the age of powdered wigs and foppish men. Cyrano de Bergerac is a member of the Paris guard called the Gascon Company of Cadets who are the first line of defense for the city. Having grown up with a little prospect, a career in the military seemed like one of the few ways the romantic artist could survive. He loves the arts so much that he even chases an actor who he finds offensive to the theater from the stage. He also is madly and deeply in love with Roxane who is his long-time friend. The problem is he believes that because of his malformed nose, Roxane could never love him. So, Cyrano believes that he must love Roxane from afar. 

Add to this that the Count de Guiche, one of the most powerful men in Paris, has decided that Roxane must be his, and he will take her as his wife. Meanwhile, Roxane has seen a new recruit to the Paris Guard, Christian de Neuvillette, and fallen in love at first sight with the handsome guard. They are all, in short, a product of their society. Guiche sees the world in terms of his own power, Roxane the brilliant, manipulative, and yet, vain girl who is supposed to marry for the position, Christian a shallow youth, and Cyrano the poet warrior who has few options and outlets for his gifts. They are fascinating and complex characters. 

Roxane enlists Cyrano to help her with her newfound love to have Christian write her and woo her. The problem is that Christian, while a pretty good fighter, is not particularly adept in matters of the heart and is also not the brightest person. She also asks Cyrano to help her with de Guiche. De Guiche has also become Cyrano's enemy because one of the fops in his entourage had forced Cyrano to kill him in a duel. To meet and fulfill Roxane's desire, Cyrano uses his skills to woo Roxane for Christian by writing letters and signing them in Christian's name. All the while, Cyrano helps to fight off de Guiche's advances to Roxanne while defending his own life from the attempts by assassins sent by de Guiche. 

Finally, in perhaps one of the more unique scenes in theatre history, Roxane is wooed by Christian who stands just visible in the shadows as Cyrano hiding next to him speaks the romantic words that proves Roxane has loved the right man, even though she has no idea that the man is Cyrano. These words cause Roxane to call Christian to her balcony. Through trickery, a priest who has been sent by de Guiche is used to marry Roxane and Christian. De Guiche discovers the marriage and arranges to send that night the Paris guard to the front of a war between France and Spain. 

At the front, the Gascon Company of Cadets is cut off from supplies and is freezing and starving. Staying true to Roxane, Cyrano sends letters every day to Roxane at great personal risk. Christian finally discovers this and demands that Cyrano tell Roxane the truth of his love and let the chips fall where they may. Alas in a final push ordered by the King through de Guiche the guard are sent into what is essentially a suicide attack. Christian is mortally wounded and Cyrano, who is also wounded in the battle, places his last letter on Christian's body so Roxane will find it when her husband's body is returned to Paris.

Fifteen years pass and Roxane in mourning has gone to live in a nunnery. She is visited every week by her constant friend Cyrano who tells her all the latest Paris gossip using humor to cheer her up. She has never shown Cyrano the final letter from Christian. On his final trip, one of de Guiche's assassins finally succeeds in wounding Cyrano by dropping a brick or log depending on the translation from a building on Cyrano's head. Even though he is mortally wounded, Cyrano refuses to not see Roxane. Sitting with his hat on and hiding the head wound from Roxane, Cyrano gives Roxane the gossip of Paris and then requests to read the final letter. She relents and allows Cyrano to read the letter that he pretends to have never seen before. He reads the letter aloud, but it soon becomes obvious that Cyrano is reciting the letter from memory and not as a first reading.  It is at this moment that Roxane realizes the truth and realizes that the man she has loved for so many years is Cyrano de Bergerac. It is too late, with this final admission, Cyrano continues to deny that he wrote the letters wanting to keep Roxane's vision of Christian alive for her. Cyrano soon dies from his wound surrounded by Roxane and a few friends who tell her of how Cyrano was wounded. The romantic comedy has suddenly turned tragic. The play ends with Cyrano dying in the arms of his love.

The play, which is classified as a romantic comedy is a condemnation of the class system and the shallowness of a society that worships power and outer beauty rather than intelligence, art, and internal beauty, particularly in the upper class. It is built around the themes of art, love, and vanity especially when love is confused with infatuation because of mere physical beauty. It is a heart-rending love story.

The review of the movie:

Cyrano stars Peter Dinklage as Cyrano, Haley Bennett as Roxane, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian, and Ben Mendelson as de Guiche. It is a simplified adaptation of the play and it does change some of the original play. It was inspired by musical versions of the play. It does remain true to the main plotline and themes of the original play. It is beautifully shot with accurate period costumes. I did enjoy the movie and was properly moved by its portrayal of the tragic love Cyrano.

The dance numbers are artistic and a little odd but somehow, they work for the movie. The music is one of its weakest points. While the lyrics of the songs are often powerful and moving, the score lacks variety often being a variation on the same tune over and over. Still, it works but there aren't really any songs you will find yourself humming later. 

I really don't know much about many of the actors in the movie. Harrison does an okay in his portrayal of Christian. Mendelson, who I know from his time as the alien Talos from Marvel movies, Rogue One and Ready Player One actually manages to make de Guiche a more multidimensional character than the two-dimensional villain that the character is usually played as in most adaptations. With the growth of de Guiche as a person in the war, a change is made to the way in which Cyrano dies since his death by assassin really no longer makes sense. The time between Christian's death and Cyrano's death is also shortened.

I do wish Bennett was a stronger Roxane.  It's not that she doesn't do well in the role, it is just that she just doesn't have anywhere near the presence that Dinklage's Cyrano has. She is overpowered by Dinklage's skill. On the plus side, the balcony scene where Cyrano speaks for Christian is quite moving. Roxane is also played in such a way that her love of physical beauty rather than inner becomes much clearer. 

Peter Dinklage was a force to be reckoned with long before he became a household name in Game of Thrones. If you haven't seen The Station Agent, you will get an idea of the breadth of talent he has. Eliminating the nose and instead relying on Dinklage's stature really works for Cyrano. Dinklage uses his size masterfully in fight scenes and his soulful eyes brim with his love of Roxane. Peter Dinklage has an amazing film presence. Few actors have his presence on film. His skills are such that his acting makes you almost ache for Cyrano's forlorn love of Roxane. It is this skill that carries the movie. 

Despite its flaws, Cyrano remains true, albeit simplified, to Rostand's play and is well worth the watch. Cyrano is currently available for on-demand streaming. 

 

The Batman Returns to Roots

**************What follows contains only minor spoilers.*************

The Batman is a different kind of Batman movie. If Ben Affleck is the older Batman, then Robert Pattinson is the younger Batman who is still finding himself. As the movie opens, we learn that Batman has been around for two years. He is trying to make a difference in Gotham City but it seems that he has had little more impact than to strike fear into the criminal element of the city. He is, in fact, called not Batman but The Vengeance. This is not particularly a spoiler because it is discovered in the first few moments of the movie. 

The Batman harkens back to the original idea behind the masked vigilante. He is one of the world's greatest detectives. It reminds us that Batman started out in Detective Comics in 1939 which is where DC Comics actually takes its name. This version of Batman still carries the idea that he will not use a gun. Although it is true that Batman originally used guns because he was basically a rip-off of The Shadow, by the time Batman #1 appeared on the shelves in 1940, he was developing his own mythos which included the fact that he didn't use guns. 

In short, The Batman returns to his roots, not as a superhero, but as a detective in a noir story. He is dealing with political corruption and crime bosses and his villains are from there. He must solve a dark and horrible series of murders that will uproot the very world he believed to exist. His villains are not the comic book, over-the-top prancing characters like the Penguin who wears a top hat, smokes a cigarette in an overly long filter, and carries an umbrella. The Penguin (Colin Farrell) is a member of the criminal underworld and former righthand of a now convicted and jailed crime boss. He must also deal with a crime boss and drug lord, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro).

Into this mix is thrown a psychopath calling himself Riddler (Paul Dano). This version of the Riddler is not some antic-driven, prancing Jim Carrey but a died-in-the-wool serial killer. He is not a derby-wearing, dressed in green question mark-covered suits, but a complex and brilliant killer. 

Added to this is Selena Kyle, Cat Woman (Zoë Kravitz). Selena is a more complicated character than in previous versions. She, too, has come from the criminal underworld. But she, like Batman, is a broken human who is seeking her place in the world. She is played by Kravitz in such a way that we understand why she is drawn to a character like Batman. 

Finally, is one of the main and often most under-utilized characters in Batman movie lore, Alfred (Andy Serkis). Only the series Gotham tried to use this version of Alfred. Since Bruce Wayne has lost his parents, Alfred trains him to protect himself. He is the reason Batman exists to a certain degree. He is more than the kindly tall and skinny butler. There is also the plus that in The Batman there is no scene depicting the iconic death of the Waynes. It seems the director/writer, Matt Reeves, finally gets that almost everyone knows how Thomas and Martha Wayne died. 

The more I think about The Batman, the better I like it. It is a complex and character-driven movie. It harkens back to the 1970s film noir mysteries. It is so much more than the shows where a crime happens and Batman shows up and beats up all the criminals. He investigates, he thinks, he interacts with the only cop he trusts, Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), who is not yes Commissioner Gordon but a policeman who wants to stop the corruption too. Batman gets things wrong and the solution is not some neatly wrapped solution. The Batman is a dark and gritty film about a great detective who must become more.