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ROME – We had guessed that Joe Wright had a predilection for the film adaptation of the classics of world literature in unsuspecting times with Pride and Prejudice And Anna Karenina (but also for more recent novels such as Atonement And The woman at the window). Now the London director is confronted with another great title. We are talking about Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand of 1897 that Wright brings to the big screen in the adaptation edited by Erica Schmidt for his 2018 musical. Starring of the film Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennett reprising their respective roles in the play.
One of the most famous and overwhelming love triangles of all time features a man at the forefront of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac (Dinklage). A skilled sword fighter in physical duels and puns in verbal challenges. But his valor and courage seem to disappear when it comes to feelings. Those he feels for Roxanne (Bennet), a friend and secret love of all time to whom he does not confide his emotions convinced that his physical appearance of her does not make him worthy of her love. However, she fell in love at first sight with the charming young cadet Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) to the point of asking his friend to persuade her love interest to write her letters. Too bad the young man is not an ace with words. It will therefore be Cyrano has to suggest the content of those letters that will make her fall madly in love.
As with its previous adaptations, also in Cyrano Joe Wright has the intelligence to remain faithful to the setting and atmospheres of the novel from which it comes to life but also to know how to insert elements of innovation that do not make the film a simple carbon copy of the original. The main intuition comes from Smidth who replaces the very long nose of the character born from Rostand’s imagination with dwarfism. And to interpret this updated version of Cyrano he calls his companion Peter Dinklage, who really suffers from dwarfism, giving the pain of his character a layer of truth. An element that Wright also “exploits”In his film and which makes the story very modern.
Why the Cyrano by Joe Wright is a film about the fear we have of showing ourselves to others for who we are, the fear of failure and the importance of telling the truth. Furthermore, the character of Roxanne, with her absolute resoluteness in not accepting compromises, is deeply topical. Visually sublime thanks to a direction (and photography by Seamus McGarvey) careful to emphasize the beauty of the locations – the film was shot in Noto -, the scenographies curated by Sarah Greenwood and the costumes – from Oscar nominations – by Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran -, Cyrano He also has on his side a soundtrack signed by The National – each song in the film is recorded live – which in the lyrics and melodies gives the musical a naturalness and authenticity capable of making the words sung by the characters with an unprecedented spontaneity.
The video interview with Joe Wright is edited by Manuela Santacatterina:
