Film

Cyrano

Name: Cyrano
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2021
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Ben Mendelsohn, Monica Dolan

Joe Wright's musical retelling of Rostand's play, adapted from Erica Schmidt's stage production with songs by The National, swaps Cyrano's famous nose for Peter Dinklage's stature as the reason he believes himself unlovable. It's lush, melancholic and unabashedly sincere — a swooning tragedy for anyone who'd rather have their heartbreak sung than spoken, dressed in candlelit period finery.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a musical that trades in big operatic feeling and bold, theatrical staging, and you're happy to let a reworked classic be its own thing rather than a museum piece.

Skip it if you want a quiet, naturalistic romance; this one sings nearly every emotional beat, and its heightened style may feel overwrought if you prefer restraint.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours, sung more than spoken, with sweeping emotion played at full volume. Settle in for lush, unhurried swells rather than quick, light entertainment.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Roxanne1987

Steve Martin's fire-chief spin on Cyrano trades doublets for firefighter jackets but keeps every ounce of the ache — a man who can say anything except the one thing he means. Genuinely funny, genuinely tender.

But Eighties comic pacing and small-town sitcom energy feel slight next to the original's operatic sweep.

Cyrano de Bergerac1990

The gold-standard non-musical version, Depardieu's wounded pride filling the frame, Rostand's verse translated with real muscle. If you want the story without a single sung note, start here.

But Subtitled French, nearly two and a half hours, and a far more theatrical, declamatory style of acting.

Shakespeare in Love1998

A witty period romance built on the same idea — that the right words, well-timed, can make someone fall for a person they haven't properly met yet. Funny, quick, unexpectedly moving.

But Broader comic tone and a much lighter touch with heartbreak than Cyrano's tragedy.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Cyrano

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Truth About Cats & Dogs1996

Same engine as Cyrano — someone lending their own words to another person's face — just gender-swapped and played as light romantic comedy instead of doomed poetry.

A radio vet gives her gorgeous neighbour the words to seduce a caller who's actually falling for her voice, not his face — the Cyrano triangle rebuilt for the era of phone calls and glossy magazines.

But Broad 90s rom-com plotting and a much lower emotional stake than Rostand's tragedy — this one's after laughs first.

Moulin Rouge!2001

Baz Luhrmann's jukebox musical about a penniless writer, a woman he can't have, and love expressed entirely through borrowed songs and desperate poetry. Same doomed, beautiful excess.

But Frenetic editing and deliberate theatrical artifice — it's a lot, on purpose, from the first frame.

The Phantom of the Opera2004

A masked man convinced his face disqualifies him from love, expressing everything he can't say through music instead. Same wound, same instinct to hide behind art rather than risk rejection.

But Lloyd Webber bombast and a much darker, more gothic register than Cyrano's warmth.

La La Land2016

A modern musical about two people who might be right for each other at the wrong moment, told in song and colour instead of swordplay and verse. Bittersweet in exactly the right way.

But Contemporary Los Angeles setting and a more ambivalent, unresolved kind of heartbreak.

Pride & Prejudice2005

Same director, same appetite for longing looks held a beat too long, same belief that the right sentence can undo a person. Wright's eye for yearning is just as sharp here.

But No music, no swordplay — just quiet, buttoned-up English restraint instead of grand romantic gesture.

Beauty and the Beast2017

A musical fairy tale built entirely on the fear that appearance forecloses love, and the slow work of proving that wrong. Handsome production, big voices, unabashedly sincere.

But Family-friendly Disney sweetness where Cyrano offers real tragedy and consequence.

Les Misérables2012

Big, tearful, sung-through French period romance with the same appetite for sacrifice, unspoken devotion, and love letters mattering more than presence. A similar scale of emotion and spectacle.

But Three hours of nearly continuous singing and revolution-era misery — a much bigger commitment.

Marty1955

Strips Cyrano's central wound — believing your own face disqualifies you from being loved — down to its bare, unpoetic truth, with none of the wit to hide behind.

A lonely Bronx butcher, convinced he's too plain and too old for love, wanders a dance hall hoping someone will look past his face. Small, black-and-white, devastatingly honest.

But No verse, no swordplay, no music — just unglamorous 1950s realism and a quieter, sadder kind of hope.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame1996

Same central image as Cyrano — a man certain his body makes him unlovable, devoted from the shadows — reworked as an animated musical for family audiences.

Disney's own take on 'monstrous outside, tender inside,' sung by a bell-ringer who loves from a distance he believes he can never close. Genuinely gorgeous, surprisingly heavy for a cartoon.

But Animated musical pitched partly at children, with comic gargoyle sidekicks sitting oddly alongside real cruelty and grief.