Review Roundup: CYRANO Film Starring Peter Dinklage & Haley Bennett

Cyrano, the new film adaption of the 2018 musical, premiered at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on September 2. Starring Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennett, who are reprising their roles from the 2018 Off-Broadway production, the film is scheduled to be released in the US on December 31.

Directed by Joe Wright and adapted by Erica Schmidt, the movie is based on the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. The film features music by the popular band The National, which includes music from Aaron and Bryce Dessner and lyrics by Matt Berninger. Carin Besser also contributed lyrics to the adaption.

A raw and transporting new version of the classic tale of unrequited love and ghostwritten letters, Cyrano tells the story of a proud man who believing himself unlovable, agrees to woo the woman he loves for another.

Rounding out the cast are Kelvin Harrison Jr., Bashir Salahuddin, and Ben Mendelsohn. The film is produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title, along with Guy Heeley.

The critics have spoken...

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Peter DeBruge, Variety: "With its swooping cameras and beyond-dazzling production design, Wright's style is more alive than ever, giving new meaning to the word 'panache.' But even before the helmer came aboard, writer Erica Schmidt had an epiphany: that she might reimagine Cyrano as a dwarf, and that there was no actor more suited than her husband, Peter Dinklage, to play the title role (which he did, in an Off Broadway staging that she directed). Hollywood may have been slow to recognize it, but Dinklage truly merits leading-man status, and while his singing voice leaves something to be desired, Schmidt's bespoke script plays to many of the star's unique strengths."

David Ehrlich, IndieWire: "Co-written by Berninger and his wife Carin Besser, the unfussy lyrics add some easy zest to the kind of epistolary romance that's often so enervating to watch on-screen, as Cyrano and the rest of the cast belt out their feelings - almost exclusively to themselves, and not to each other. With few choruses and even fewer hooks, most of the musical numbers sound like the ramblings of a racing mind, leaving the film's army of dancers to supply too much of the swoon and spectacle."

Monica Castillo, TheWrap: "While it doesn't come together seamlessly, there are wonderful moments between Dinklage and Bennett, even Harrison Jr. and Mendelsohn have their moments to shine. Perhaps it's why this version of 'Cyrano' felt so bittersweet, leaving the audience with a sense of what might have been."

Pete Hammond, Deadline: "Although Cyrano has been played by way too many actors to count over the years, Dinklage makes it so fresh, so alive, and so potent it feels like we are seeing Cyrano depicted for the very first time. Bennett is a revelation, a lovely voice paired with an innate understanding of Roxanne's complications in love and life. Harrison is terrific and gives real depth to Christian where it would be easy to discount the a guy who gets a head start based on appearance and swagger."

Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist: "Despite the change in Cyrano's physical appearance, this version of "Cyrano" feels less fresh or contemporary than it wants to be. Something is missing either in the songs, the staging, or, more likely, the screenplay. That being said, the core story will still be compelling to many as it has for over 120 years."

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