Books into Screen: Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)

I watched this one quite in a hurry and a was a bit forced to do so, because the end of January is approaching and I haven't written a post for the Let's Read Play Monthly Meme. Excellent. So here I am, in the middle of the night, writing.

Anyway. Cyrano de Bergerac film is strongly based on a play of the same title by Edmond Rostand, a French playwright. I said “strongly” because it is indeed strongly based on the play. Many adaptations love to make a little twist here and there, but this film doesn't do much of that thing.

Confession: I don't speak French. It means I missed a lot of good jokes in the film, no matter how brilliant the English subtitle is. But I love Gerard Depardieu's interpretation of the role. It's simply wonderful. Cyrano is strong, brave, brilliant, man of words and action, but he's also shy and timid when it comes to the matter of love. He fears rejection. Gerard is just perfect for the role, very much alike both in appearance and actions as the one I imagined when I read the play.

Roxane is a bit too calm. I wish she would be a little more cheerful, but in the film she is pretty quiet and passive. Her eyes don't show much intelligent either. She is a bit dull for my taste. In the play, I imagine her as a smart witty lady who wants love from somebody better than her in words. Roxane in the film is good, but not as amazing as Gerard, obviously.

Now, Christian. Vincent Perez did a great job with the role. His Christian is a dashing, handsome, brave, yet not-so-good-with-words fellow who falls in love with the beautiful Roxane. His acting is commendable and his relationship with Bergerac so natural.

I won't comment much on the story though. As I said before, it's just as it is in the play. Nothing to complain there. But I must say that at times the film looks somewhat dull to me. I don't know if it's because it's old, or because it strictly follows the play. Not every play is good when it's brought to film instead of stage, won't you agree?

Character Thursday: Roxane

Anne Brochet as Roxane

I'm talking about Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac. She is Cyrano's cousin and also Christian's wife. Funnily, I remember her as the only notable woman in the play.

Roxane is a good woman, actually. Firstly, she is kind. She wants to see Cyrano and Christian safe as much as they want to go to battle. She cares for her cousin, Cyrano, and loves him. But she loves Christian more – or so she thought.

Roxane is also a smart woman. She loves Christian because she thinks he's a good speaker. Meaning: She's good with words as well. At least, she has to be smart to understand Cyrano's poetry and smart insults. She also shows her cleverness and courage when she goes to soldier's camp to see Christian.

If there's any certain way to get her heart, it's poetry. Well, I don't really think it's poetry, but it certainly has something to do with words. Roxane loves words well-said better than handsome, good-looking face. Roxane loves the soul better than the body. She likes Christian for his looks at first, but it's his “soul” than gains her eternal love in the end.

So, despite the fact that she is very much insensitive when it comes to Cyrano's love, she is actually a good woman. There are times when I feel like I can understand her choices and reactions.

That's my character this Thursday. What is yours? 

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Character Thursday

Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).

- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.

- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.

- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :

1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.

2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.

3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.

3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.

4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik

Weekend Quote #27

“I will be loved myself--or not at all!”

The quote I choose for this week is short enough, but it's spoken greatly by Christian, Roxane's husband in Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac.

Before saying this line, Christian learns from his wife's mouth that she loves him for hisbeautiful words and letters, although she at first loved him for his face only. Well, actually, those words are not his, they are Cyrano's. That breaks Christian's heart. He tells Cyrano about it, and asks him to confront Roxane and asks her to choose between him and Christian. Cyrano says that it's actually okay if Christian wants to stay with Roxane, but the soldier answers with the quote above.

Many people try to be someone else in order to be loved. I love this quote because it reminds us all that it's much better to be loved for what we really are than to be loved for what we are not.

That's the quote for this week. Want to share yours?  

Character Thursday: Cyrano de Bergerac

Imagine D'Artagnan. Now imagine Pablo Neruda. Now imagine Japanese tengu or Petruk puppet doll. Combine them all together. That's how Edmond Rostand made his Cyrano.

Gerard Depardieu as
Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano is a Gascon, a brave and honourable soldier, but at the same time reckless and proud. He's as skilled in swordmanship as well as in words. Yes, this terrible soldier is also a poet. He has one weakness, however: his nose. His nose is so big that he feels very much ugly. He feels that nobody will ever be able to love him.

I have mixed feelings towards this character. I love his courage and valour. Fighting a duel while finishing a poem, fighting against outnumbering enemies, taking a scarf from the enemies. He gains praise even from D'Artagnan himself. It's something to be boast about, right?

Placido Domingo as
Cyrano de Bergerac

Yet, in the matter of love, I think I must pity him. A friend has shown him that even with his looks he can win still woman's affection. But he has so little confidence in himself. He should know that the thing within is more interesting than the outward look. He must learn it bitterly in the end, when everything is too late.

One more thing about him. When he writes those poems and letters for Roxane, borrowing Christian's name, he truly does it with all his heart. Doing that thing, he feels that at least a part of him is beloved by Roxane. Christian, however, points out to him that it's better to be loved fully for what we really are.

Cyrano's story really reminds me of Placido Domingo's video clip, Paloma Querida. When you watch it, you will understand what the drama is all about. It actually resembles the play so much I start to think that Domingo borrowed the concept from thence. Enjoy.

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Character Thursday

Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).

- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.

- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.

- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :

1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.

2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.

3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.

3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.

4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik

Cyrano de Bergerac: Maybe the Love is Not At All Unrequited

It's a pity I neither speak nor read French. Had I known the language better, had I the ability to read it in the language it's originally written, perhaps I could have enjoyed it better.

It doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it – I did. But the play is still a play, and it's hard to translate a play no matter what language you want to translate it into. I'm just hoping I don't miss much.

Cyrano de Bergerac is a soldier, duelist, and poet. He's brave and skilled in words as well as in sword. He somewhat reminds me of D'Artagnan, with the same level of obstinacy and playfulness. He enters the stage dramatically, starting only as a voice that demands one actor to descend. His adventure doesn't end there. He then engages in a duel with Valvert, and wins the game while composing a ballad. Hmm, charming. But the great amazing thing is him fighting five scores of men to save his friend, Lignière.

But that's not the main plot. Cyrano is in love with his cousin, Roxane, a charming and beautiful lady. But he has a problem. Cyrano thinks that he is ugly, with an enormous nose on his face. He sure has the skill with words, but he doesn't feel confident with his looks.

“Look well at me--then tell me, with what hope This vile protuberance can inspire my heart! I do not lull me with illusions--yet At times I'm weak: in evening hours dim I enter some fair pleasance, perfumed sweet; With my poor ugly devil of a nose I scent spring's essence--in the silver rays I see some knight--a lady on his arm, And think 'To saunter thus 'neath the moonshine, I were fain to have my lady, too, beside!' Thought soars to ecstasy. . .O sudden fall! --The shadow of my profile on the wall!”

Meanwhile, Roxane confesses to him that she's in love with a handsome soldier, Christian. Christian is exactly Cyrano's opposite – good-looking but not a good speaker.

Instead of begrudging Roxane's love or challenging Christian in a duel, Cyrano chooses to join forces with him. Cyrano expresses his love in words to Roxane while making her believe that it's actually Christian.

“Roxane shall never have a disillusion! Say, wilt thou that we woo her, double-handed? Wilt thou that we two woo her, both together? Feel'st thou, passing from my leather doublet, Through thy laced doublet, all my soul inspiring?...Will you complete me, and let me complete you? You march victorious,--I go in your shadow; Let me be wit for you, be you my beauty!”

Well, Cyrano might be wrong. Perhaps it's not always the outward look that matters. Perhaps he's not that ugly at all. Perhaps Love is sometimes blind. And perhaps, his love is not at all unrequited. But perhaps, Fate uses the phrase “too late” too much.

I like the play, though I prefer to read it in its original language. I like the hero too. Cyrano reminds me of the Three Musketeers plus D'Artagnan. There are duels, battle, valour, honour, fun, and a lot of nice things in the play. Although the play is not a comedy, it's not dark as well.

Historical Facts and Background:

• Cyrano de Bergerac was a real person, though the love story is entirely fictional
• The play is set in 17th Century France, and the battle involved is a part of Thirty Years' War between France and Spain.