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- The story takes place in 1655. Cyrano de Bergerac is a cadet in the French army
- who is plagued by having a very long nose. He is secretly in love with his beautiful
- cousin Roxane, who in turn is in love with young baron Christian de Neuvillette
- while being courted by Cardinal de Richelieu’s nephew, Antoine de Guiche. While
- Cyrano is self-conscious about his nose, Christian is self-conscious about his lack of
- wit and eloquence. Cyrano helps Christian to reach Roxane’s heart by writing love
- letters for him. Christian and Roxane get married and jealous de Guiche sends Cyrano
- and Christian’s regiment on a suicide mission. Christian is killed in battle. Many
- years later, Roxane comes to realize that Cyrano was the one who wrote the beautiful
- letters all along and understands now that Cyrano is the man she really loves. Cyrano,
- who was wounded by a vengeful enemy, dies in Roxane’s arms.
- Cultural Background
- The film is adapted from a play written by Edmond Rostand in 1897. The play is in
- verses. The character of Cyrano is modeled after a writer and duellist who lived in the
- 17th century. The play Cyrano de Bergerac became popular upon being first shown
- and has since been translated and performed in many languages. It has also been
- adapted for the screen many times. The American film Roxanne (1987), starring
- Steve Martin, is an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac.
- Cyrano de Bergerac makes multiple references to the Gascon people. La Gascogne
- (Gascony) is an area located in the southwest of France, close to the Spanish border.
- Like d’Artagnan (hero of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers), Edmond
- Rostand’s Cyrano was a Gascon. In Cyrano de Bergerac, the Gascons and the
- northeners often comment on each other with contempt, showing that regional
- differences were important in 17th century France.
- De Guiche, Cyrano, and Christian all belong to a regiment of cadets. At the time, the
- cadets corps was composed of noblemen from Gascogne. In the film, the cadets are
- sent to fight the Spanish forces in Arras, a town located on the opposite side of
- France, at the very northern tip of the country. The French siege of Arras took place
- in the 1640s, during the Thirty Years’ War (la guerre de Trente Ans), a war that
- involved several European countries.
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