Cyrano de Bergerac, with Gérard Depardieu (1990)

Famed swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with his cousin Roxane. He has never expressed his love for her as he his large nose undermines his self-confidence. Then he finds a way to express his love to her, indirectly.

Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau

Writers: Edmond Rostand (play), Jean-Paul Rappeneau (adaptation) Jean-Claude Carrière(adaptation)

Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Anne Brochet, Vincent Perez.

LINK FOR THE MOVIE WITH ENGLISH & PORTUGUESE SUBS: https://youtu.be/6MF8TURNpNk

Gérard Depardieu and Vincent Perez play rivals for the affections of Roxanne. In real life, they would both father a child with Karine Silla. The daughter fathered by Depardieu is even named Roxane Depardieu.

Roxane really existed, she really was Cyrano's cousin, and she really did marry a baron whose surname was De Neuvillette. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that he and Cyrano were both in love with Roxane.

The film required 2000 actors and extras, and 2000 costumes, half of which were specially designed for the film. Over 1000 weapons were required as well as 40 studio sets and outdoor locations.

Cyrano's final insult to his own nose is translated as "Oh, that this too, too solid nose would melt." This is a parody of Hamlet's "Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt. Gérard Depardieu later appeared in Hamlet (1996), opposite Kenneth Branagh and Derek Jacobi, both of whom have played Cyrano.

The title character was a real historical person. He was born in 1619 and died in 1655. Although there is no real evidence that he actually could compose and recite a poem while dueling, and time his poem so that he could finish the poem and kill his opponent at the same time, he did write the earliest science-fiction books on record, two hundred-fifty years before Jules Verne wrote his. There is also no evidence that he ever wrote another man's love letters.

Gérard Depardieu was so fond of his character, Cyrano, that he kept the look (long hair and moustache) for a long time after filming completed.

The English subtitles use Anthony Burgess' translation of the play text, which preserves the rhyming alexandrines of Edmond Rostand's French text.

The first act of the original play takes place entirely within the theater, rather than venturing outside, and ends when Cyrano steps out to fight the hundred men sent to kill Ligniere. During his conversation with Le Bret, a food seller offers him some of the concessions. Having just given away his money, by using it to pay back all the theatergoers, he at first refuses, but then accepts nothing more than a glass of water, half a biscuit, and a grape. That detail is not included in this film, since the actions moves outside while Cyrano duels Valvert. However, it does appear to make reference to it. While waiting for Valvert to confront him, Cyrano helps himself to grapes.

Cyrano states that he has "practically lived" Don Quixote. Gérard Depardieu was later considered for the role of Quixote in Terry Gilliam's troubled production, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. As that role had previously been played by José Ferrer, it would have marked the second role that the two actors shared.

With a Best Actor nomination for this film, Gérard Depardieu became the first actor to receive an Oscar nomination for playing the same role in another film version of a work that a different actor (José Ferrer) had previously won the award for. Robert De Niro had won an Oscar for playing Vito Corleone, a role that Marlon Brando had previously won the Oscar for, but De Niro and Brando had played the role in two entirely different films with two entirely different storylines. Ferrer and Depardieu had respectively appeared in different versions of Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac".

Edmond Rostand's original play identifies one character as "a Musketeer." This Musketeer compliments Cyrano after his duel with Valvert, and is later the one who remarks to Cyrano, after seeing him embrace Christian, that they are allowed to talk about his nose again. The earlier scene identifies him as D'Artagnan - which may identify him as the same D'Artagan who is the hero of Alexandre Dumas's novels. Appropriately, both Gérard Depardieu and José Ferrer have appeared in adaptations of the last novel in that series, The Vicomte of Braggelone. Depardieu played Porthos in O Homem da Máscara de Ferro (1998), and Ferrer played Athos in O Quinto Mosqueteiro (1979).

This film's first U.S. Premiere was in New York on November 16, 1990. This is forty years to the day since the U.S. Premiere of the 1950 film Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), which starred José Ferrer.

At the Cannes Film Festival, Gerard Depardieu got to meet Jose Ferrer.

The appearance of the Comte de Guiche in the play and film represents another connection to Alexandre Dumas's Musketeer novels. As referenced in the play, the Comte (Antoine de Gramont III) was married to Cardinal Richelieu's niece. Richelieu was the antagonist in the original Three Musketeers. He also makes a brief appearance in the second Musketeer novel, Twenty Years After. His son, Armand de Gramont, is a major character in that novel and the final one, The Viscount of Bragelonne.

Blocked in:

Andorra, Belgium, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Guadeloupe, Luxembourg, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, New Caledonia, Réunion, St. Barthélemy, St. Martin, St. Pierre & Miquelon, Switzerland, Wallis & Futuna