CYRANO

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens with a young woman, Roxanne (Haley Bennett), preparing to go to the theater with the arrogant Duke De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn). She expresses her feelings about wanting to find true love (“Someone To Say”) on her own terms. On her way there, she sees a guard, Christian Neuvilette (Kelvin Harrison, Jr), and they appear to instantly fall for one another.

At the theater, the crowd watches a performance by renowned actor Montfleury (Mark Benton), but the show is interrupted by Cyrano De Bergerac (Peter Dinklage), a gifted swordsman with dwarfism who is also longtime friends with Roxanne. Cyrano sends Montfleury running offstage after insulting his acting and is then challenged to a duel by De Guiche’s right-hand man Valvert (Joshua James), who calls Cyrano a freak. Cyrano accepts the duel and notes that he’s heard every cruel name in the book (“When I Was Born”). Although Cyrano wins the duel fair and square, Valvert attempts to attack him from behind, but Cyrano fatally impales Valvert in front of the mortified crowd. De Guiche is enraged, although Roxanne tells him that Cyrano took no pride in killing Valvert.

Cyrano meets with his friend and fellow soldier Le Bret (Bashir Salahuddin), who asks him if he is in love since he knows that Cyrano was playing up his skills for someone in the audience. Cyrano confesses that he is indeed in love with Roxanne (“Madly”), but feels that because of his appearance that she could never truly love him back. Cyrano is then called to meet Roxanne for the following day by one of her maids. On his way home, Cyrano is accosted by ten men, but he fights and kills them off.

In the morning, as Cyrano waits to meet with Roxanne, he tries to write her a poem (“Your Name”). She arrives and speaks to him as old friends, but also confides to him that she is in love with Christian. She asks Cyrano if he may be able to arrange a meeting with Christian, and while it upsets him to know this, he agrees to help.

Cyrano finds Christian in a crowd and draws him away by telling him that he is friends with Roxanne. Christian is elated to hear that she is in love with him, but Cyrano discovers that he is inarticulate and cannot properly express his feelings (“Someone To Say Reprise”). Cyrano agrees to write letters to Roxanne and pretend that Christian wrote them.

Roxanne falls more and more in love with Christian due to the letters (“Every Letter”), though it pains Cyrano to have to conceal his true feelings for her through this. She asks Cyrano to arrange for Christian to meet her in person, and he agrees.

Roxanne later meets with De Guiche, who has been promoted to Colonel. He tells Roxanne that the soldiers are heading towards the warfront, meaning Cyrano and Christian may die. She pretends to have broken off her friendship with Cyrano and feigns interest in De Guiche to sway him from not going to war.

Cyrano brings Christian to meet Roxanne. Although he is happy to see her, he cannot match the charm of Cyrano’s letters when talking to Roxanne, leading her to think that he is fooling with her (“I Need More”). Christian asks for Cyrano’s help, and he stands hidden behind a wall while Christian tries talking to Roxanne and passing off Cyrano’s words as his own. However, Cyrano soon begins speaking loud enough for Roxanne to hear, but she still thinks it is Christian saying all the romantic talk (“Overcome”). She invites him back up and they begin to kiss.

Roxanne receives a letter from De Guiche, expressing his intentions to marry or sleep with her. She arranges to marry Christian promptly, while De Guiche makes his way over and proclaims that he is getting what he feels is rightfully his (“What I Deserve”). He walks in on Roxanne and Christian being married, and he becomes infuriated.

De Guiche retaliates by sending Cyrano and Christian’s unit off to war. They are put in a cold and snowy area, with Christian already missing Roxanne (“Close My Eyes”). During this time, Cyrano continues to write letters as Christian and vows to protect him for Roxanne’s sake. The other soldiers express their own sorrows (“Wherever I Fall”).

De Guiche sends to soldiers out for what is basically a suicide mission. Cyrano writes one more letter, but Christian sees it and notes tear stains on it. He realizes that Cyrano is in love with Roxanne, and that Roxanne is really in love with Cyrano’s words, and therefore the man himself. As the soldiers march toward the enemy, Christian runs out into the battlefield, unarmed and unprotected, and he is shot dead. Cyrano watches in horror and dismay as his friend dies.

Three years later, Cyrano has become malnourished and is suffering from war wounds. Knowing he doesn’t have much time left, he visits Roxanne and wants to give her the last letter from Christian. He recites it from memory, and Roxanne realizes that Cyrano wrote the letters. She is upset at him for lying, but he collapses in ill health. Roxanne professes her own love for Cyrano (“No Cyrano”) and share a kiss before Cyrano passes away.

Cyrano De Bergerac is a talented swordsman who is mocked for his dwarfism. He is also deeply in love with his childhood friend Roxanne, but she falls for a guard named Christian Neuvilette, who reciprocates her feelings. When she asks Cyrano for help in meeting him, Cyrano finds that Christian is incapable of expressing his feelings, so Cyrano begins to write letters to Roxanne while pretending to be Christian.

After a correspondence, Cyrano arranges for Christian and Roxanne to meet, but he has to step in and help when Christian starts to make a bad first impression. Roxanne and Christian are married, but Duke De Guiche, who had tried to court Roxanne, finds out and retaliates by sending Cyrano and Christian off to war.

During the war, Christian eventually realizes that Cyrano is in love with Roxanne, and that she fell for Cyrano's words. He dies going against enemy soldiers. Cyrano later returns home but is suffering from malnourishment and war-related wounds. He sees Roxanne one last time, and she finds out that he wrote the letters, realizing Cyrano's love for her. They share a kiss before Cyrano dies.