#CYRANO DE BERGERAC FILM DUEL MOVIE#

MichalikвЂ™s invention of a black bistro owner, HonorГ© (Jean-Michel Martial) who cheers on the cast and playwright while fighting small battles against bigotry, is a salutary touch thatвЂ™s well-played.

#CYRANO DE BERGERAC FILM DUEL MOVIE#

The movie doesnвЂ™t exactly sag in energy when heвЂ™s off screen, but one does tend to notice how on-the-nose MichalikвЂ™s plot contrivances can get when the movie wanders away from CoquelinвЂ™s theater. Known mostly in the States as a dour presence in films by the Dardenne brothers, Gourmet here is a motor of comedic enthusiasm. SolivГ©rГЁs really goes to town here, and itвЂ™s a good thing he does, because Gourmet is going to go on to steal every scene heвЂ™s in. One day he is summoned to the theater of the stage giant Constant Coquelin (Gourmet) the night before his appointment he goes to the Moulin Rouge with his tall, handsome pal Leo (Tom Leebs), and they meet the enchanting Jeanne ( Lucie Boujenah), with whom Leo is infatuated and Edmond ambiguously entranced.ДЄt CoquelinвЂ™s place the next day, the exuberant actor suggests Rostand provide him with a comedy, and in one of the filmвЂ™s most virtuosic scenes, the playwright invents Cyrano out of whole cloth, and provides dialogue for him in a variety of rhetorical modes as Coquelin provides the prompts. Rostand ( Thomas SolivГ©rГЁs), a man small of stature but great of passion (you see the parallels forming), with a loving wife and small family to support, is flummoxed, and spends no small amount of time battling writerвЂ™s block. The movie begins with a flop-the flop of RostandвЂ™s poetic drama La Princesse Lointaine, starring the legendary Sarah Bernhardt. But it is lively, fast paced, charming and funny, and it showcases an especially delightful comic performance from Belgian and French cinema stalwart Olivier Gourmet. From what I can glean-and I have no special expertise in 19thВ century French theater, or Rostand, or the real Cyrano-itвЂ™s not particularly historically accurate. вЂњCyrano, My Love,вЂќ written and directed by Alexis Michalik, adapting his own acclaimed play, is a backstage account of the writing and staging of the play.

Cyrano de bergerac film duel