Cyrano (2022) * * *

Directed by:  Joe Wright

Starring:  Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Ben Mendelsohn, Monica Dolan

I've seen Cyrano de Bergerac as straight drama, a romantic comedy, and now as a musical with songs which are both forgettable and redundant.   Once we pass the musical concept and allow Cyrano to establish its rhythm, it is an effective romantic tragedy.   In Joe Wright's version, Cyrano isn't encumbered by a large nose but as a dwarf played with passion by Peter Dinklage, who loves his friend Roxanne (Bennett) from afar but doesn't dare tell her for fear of rejection.  

Cyrano is an army unit captain who makes enemies easily due to his sharp, honest wit and acerbic tongue.  He fearlessly takes on ten men in a sword fight, but the thought of telling Roxanne how he feels is a bridge too far.   Roxanne soon falls in love at first sight with the handsome Christian, a new soldier in Cyrano's unit.   Christian adores Roxanne, but when it comes to speaking to her, he is at a loss.   Cyrano decides to help Christian by writing letters to Roxanne which of course express his own feelings and allowing Christian to pass them off as his.   Roxanne falls in love with the prose Cyrano weaves in his correspondence as suffers the indignity of having to watch Roxanne fall deeper in love with Christian thanks to the words he put on paper.   

When Christian attempts to speak in-person to Roxanne, he can only utter inconsequential declarations and Cyrano must again rescue him by speaking to her from the shadows.   Roxanne is also wooed by a cretin of a duke (Mendelsohn), who sends Christian to the front after Christian's hasty marriage to Roxanne which undercuts the duke's designs.   When on the front, Cyrano writes letters to Roxanne as Christian daily, which only serves the muddy the waters further as Christian suspects Cyrano's love for his wife.

The cast bestows upon us involving, moving performances.   Bennett is a radiant and fetching Roxanne who is not a pushover when it comes to love.   Robinson, Jr. is a harmless, nice man who is as inarticulate as Cyrano is verbose, but all of the words Cyrano knows can't help him if he is unable to use three simple ones to tell Roxanne what he has longed to express.   This is the essence of the tragedy which befalls Cyrano, although it would be refreshing to provide this material with a happier ending.  If you've inserted songs, you can alter the ending as well.