Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writer: Mo Buck
Based on the play by Edmond Rostand
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Hailee Steinfeld, Timothee Chalamet, Jude Law, Stanley Tucci, Chris Sullivan, Freddie Highmore, Eric Roberts
Plot: Plot: In 1640, in the theatre of the Hotel Burgundy, several audiences members slowly make their way in the theater, where the public is composed of a wide range of characters, from pickpockets to nobility. Christian de Neuvillette (Timothee Chalamet), a handsome new cadet, arrives at the theater with Ligniere (Freddie Highmore), a drunkard who he hopes will help him identify the girl he has fallen in love with. He recognizes her, Roxane (Hailee Steinfeld), set to marry the Viscount Valvert (Eric Roberts) on the orders of the Count de Guiche (Jude Law). Ligniere leaves Christian, heading for the bar. Christian catches a pickpocket who warns him of a plot against Ligniere when he leaves the theater.
On the other end, Raguenaud (Chris Sullivan), a baker, and Le Bret (Stanley Tucci) are expecting Cyrano (Kenneth Branagh)'s arrival, as he banished the main actor of the play for a month. The play starts and still no sign of Cyrano. He finally makes his grand entrance in the middle of the banished actor's monologue and Cyrano de Bergerac forces him off the stage. He compensates the manager for the loss of admission fee with a bag of gold and attempts to leave the theater. He's confronted by the Viscount Valvere while he's leaving who challenges him to a duel. They each take out their swords and start a duel that Cyrano dominates, even composing a ballade while fighting. He badly wound the Viscount as he finishes his ballad. He declares his love to Roxane and arranges a meeting with her the following day. After Roxane leaves, Christian and Ligniere go tell Cyrano about the hundred thugs waiting for him in front of his own. He insists on going alone and start marching home and defeat the thugs after a lenghty battle.
The next morning, at Raguenaud's bake shop, Cyrano arrives, anxious about meeting Roxane. He composes a letter to her and signals Raguenaud to leave them alone. They start talking while she bandages his hand, injured at the battle) She explains her gratitude to Cyrano for killing Valvere at the theater, because she didn't want to marry him, because she's fallen in love with someone else. Cyrano believes she's fallen in love with him, until she describes him as handsome (Cyrano has a huge nose) She tells him she's fallen in love with Christian at the theater. She asks Cyrano to protect Christian, a cadet in his company, and he agrees.
After she leaves, Cyrano's company captain arrives at the shop to congratulate him for his victory the previous night. A huge crowd, including Count de Guiche and his gang, follows them, also wanting to congratulate Cyrano on his victory. Cyrano drags de Guiche's posse away and orders the audience to leave. Le Bret criticizes Cyrano's behavior, but Cyrano responds that he can do as he pleases. The Cadets, including Christian, then pressure Cyrano to tell the story of the battle of the previous night. As he's telling his story, Christian often interrupts Cyrano with references to his hideous nose. He's angry at Christian, but he remembers his promise to Roxane and doesn't do anything about it. He eventually explodes and evacuates the shop, leaving Christian alone with Cyrano. Christian reveals his love of Roxane to Cyrano and Cyrano tells him that she's her cousin. The young man is afraid to go talk to her, as he lacks the charisma and the intellect to speak correctly. Cyrano tells him that Roxane expects a letter from Christian and Cyrano offers him the letter he wrote and Christian signs his name and the two men sign a pact that Cyrano will seduce Roxane with his words on Christian's behalf.
A couple of days later, Cyrano arrives at Roxane's house and she tells him that Christian's letters are breathtaking and that he seems more intelligent that Cyrano. She declares her love for Christian once again. At this point, De Guiche arrives and Cyrano hides in Roxane's house. He tells the girl he's been made colonel of an army regiment and he's leaving to fight in the war with Spain. He mentions his regiment include Cyrano and men and therefore Christian and he will call them to come with him. Roxane knows De Guiche's in love with her and she tells him the best way for her to fall in love with him is for him to become a war hero. She also suggests that the best way De Guiche could get back at Cyrano for humiliating him at the shop the other day, is to leave them behind while everybody else goes to war. Cyrano comes out of the house and he didn't hear the conversation between Roxane and De Guiche. She tells Cyrano that she expects Christian to come visit her and improvise a poem in front of her as he did in his letters and she leaves.
Cyrano goes to tell Christian about Roxane's plan. He writes a poem for Christian and urges him to learn it. However, he refuses as he wants to seduce her with his own words, a risky plan, that Cyrano approves, as he still wants to seduce her himself. They both go to Roxane's house and Christian makes a fool of himself and she enters her house, confused and angry. Cyrano makes Christian stand in front of Roxane's balcony while he stands under it, whispering lines to Christian for him to say to her. Using the darkness of the night, Cyrano shoves Christian away and speaks directly to Roxane who can't tell the difference between the two in the night. At the end, Cyrano asks for Roxane's hand on Christian's behalf and she accepts.
The following day, Roxane and Christian are secretly married in a small church while Cyrano waits outside to prevent De Guiche from interrupting in case he heard about it. He eventually arrives and he's angry that he lost Roxane to a cadet, declares that he's sending Cyrano and his cadet to the front lines in the war. Roxane asks Cyrano to promise to keep Christian safe during the war and he responds that he can't promise that. She asks him if her husband will have the chance to write everyday and he promises that he will.
The cadets are sent to the siege of Arras. The food is lacking and the French forces are badly outnumbered. De Guiche, still madly angry at Cyrano goes to tell a Spanish spy how to attack the cadets. He returns to the French side and tells to Cyrano that they will probably all die during the siege and he leaves. The following day, the Spanish forces attack the cadets as De Guiche instructed them. During the battle, Christian is mortally injured and Cyrano carries him away. On his death bed, Cyrano reveals to Christian that he's been writing two times a day to Roxane and she once wrote a letter saying that she loves Christian's intellect and could love him even if he were ugly. Christian urges him to tell her the truth about the letters and he denies his request, saying that it would break her heart. After Christian dies, the Guiche's men came to the rescue, De Guiche achieved his goal of killing Christian.
Fifteen years later, Cyrano is walking down a street and is attacked by De Guiche's men. He's able to send them away, but his advanced age slowed him down and he's mortally wounded during the fight. He's able to reach his destination, a convent where Roxane resides, still mourning her beloved Christian, even after all these years. His monthly dinner with Roxanne, Le Bret and Ragueneau
was scheduled that day. He's the first to arrive and they sit in the garden, Cyrano telling her the local news as he always does. He's able to hide his hideous injury from her, but at one point, she notices blood on the ground as Le Bret and Ragueneau arrive. Knowing that he will die soon, Cyrano proceeds to recite Christian's final letter he wrote after Christian died and claimed that he wrote it on his deathbed. She notices that he knows it by heart, just like she does and she realizes that he was the one writing the letters. She asks him about it and he denies it and she tells him she loves him, even with his hideous nose. In a final monologue, Cyrano still denies he wrote the letters and says he has lost all but one important thing, his panache. He dies in Le Bret and Ragueneau's arms as Roxane mourns that man she was truly in love with.
No comments:
Post a Comment