CD Bales is the Fire Chief in a sleepy little town, who is lovestruck when the beautiful and intelligent Roxanne rents a house for the summer. Unfortunately, CD has a problem; his nose is kinda large, and most folks have a hard time seeing past - or indeed over - it.
This is a charming, romantic, playful modern-day variation of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano De Bergerac - the old story about the witty but ugly guy whose poetry romances a woman's heart into the arms of another man. CD shares his initials with his literary antecedent but there are other amusing nods to the original, such as a scrap with tennis rackets and ski poles replacing a swordfight. The whole tone of the film is sweet, light-hearted and gently optimistic, punctuated by Martin's funny schtick (I love his reaction to the newspaper, which is pretty much the same as mine usually is) and all the performances are lovely. When CD, hidden by the bushes, is finally able to say how he feels about Roxanne, it's a great little moment, a touching paeon to amour fou. Even the town itself (it was shot in Nelson, British Columbia) is picture perfect, a little Norman Rockwell slice of picket fence heaven, oddball stores and gentle summer evenings. Of course, being a love story it's pretty corny in places, and it has some flaws, not least of which is the schmaltzy saxophone score, but it keeps coming up with funny and original scenes, like the barroom challenge where CD insults himself as creatively as possible (I particularly like, "Your nose was on time, but you were fifteen minutes late !") or all the goofball antics of the firemen. Australian Schepisi is an interesting filmmaker, who has made some good alternative movies (The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith, Six Degrees Of Separation), and he and screenwriter Martin collaborate well here to capture the mood of the piece and the pathos of the story. As love stories go, this is one of the better ones and would make for an entertaining double bill with the 1990 Jean-Paul Rappeneau / Gérard Depardieu straight version of the story.
This is a charming, romantic, playful modern-day variation of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano De Bergerac - the old story about the witty but ugly guy whose poetry romances a woman's heart into the arms of another man. CD shares his initials with his literary antecedent but there are other amusing nods to the original, such as a scrap with tennis rackets and ski poles replacing a swordfight. The whole tone of the film is sweet, light-hearted and gently optimistic, punctuated by Martin's funny schtick (I love his reaction to the newspaper, which is pretty much the same as mine usually is) and all the performances are lovely. When CD, hidden by the bushes, is finally able to say how he feels about Roxanne, it's a great little moment, a touching paeon to amour fou. Even the town itself (it was shot in Nelson, British Columbia) is picture perfect, a little Norman Rockwell slice of picket fence heaven, oddball stores and gentle summer evenings. Of course, being a love story it's pretty corny in places, and it has some flaws, not least of which is the schmaltzy saxophone score, but it keeps coming up with funny and original scenes, like the barroom challenge where CD insults himself as creatively as possible (I particularly like, "Your nose was on time, but you were fifteen minutes late !") or all the goofball antics of the firemen. Australian Schepisi is an interesting filmmaker, who has made some good alternative movies (The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith, Six Degrees Of Separation), and he and screenwriter Martin collaborate well here to capture the mood of the piece and the pathos of the story. As love stories go, this is one of the better ones and would make for an entertaining double bill with the 1990 Jean-Paul Rappeneau / Gérard Depardieu straight version of the story.